Posted By Alan Hoskins I would involve the services of an OH professional in this one. Do you have someone in house?

Posted By jackw. Hi, depends on the type of work he is doing, you don't say here. e.g. is there a manual working element, moving lifting? does his medication prevent him from driving, operating machinery etc. Also remember his GP and presumably his hospital consultant have agreed that he is "fit for work". I suppose like everything in risk assessment consider what additional risk his job brings given his condition, medication etc. etc. write them down and then consider how you can control minimise the additional risks. hope this helps Cheers

Posted By Christopher Long You need to be careful here. A risk assessment needs to take account of many aspects: 1. The ability of the employee to carry out work without introducing health and safety risks to others who may be affected by his work. 2. The ability of the employee to carry out work without further risk to their personal health and safety caused by their illness. This in itself encompasses many factors such as the working environment (e.g busy factory floor or quiet office), manual handling (e.g light repetitive lifting or infrequent team lifting) , is there any sensory impairment, does the employee require assistance in the event of fire etc .....etc. I guess what i'm saying is that without having the full details about the employee it is extremely difficult to give advice on this sensitive issue. I would strongly advise you employ the services of an OH specialist as there are serious liability issues here.

Posted By Christopher Long A medical practitioner can of course give sound advice on any limitations that have to be applied, however each workplace is very different. The doctor will not know about, for example, emergency evacuation procedures or the condition of floors (wet, sloping etc) or the effect of the injured/ill employees' work on others. Medical advice should certainly form part of the risk assessment but it should not replace it. Hope this helps.

Posted By Joan Blease I would agree with the previous postings that it is very important that you obtain the correct level of advice regarding this employee who has been absent from work for over a year, after having serious health problems. As a matter of urgency I would suggest that you contact a Company who can provide you with Occupational Health Advice AND assist you with the risk assessment to ascertain whether your employee is Fit or Unfit to return to work – even though it is only on a part time basis. Sorry to read that you do not have the necessary "in house" OH support. It must be very frustrating working for a Company who is still in the “dark ages” your description – not mine. If you require assistance my Company would be more than happy to give you the advice and support you are looking for. i.e. assessing whether the employee is Fit or Unfit to return to work on a part time basis. Our Principal H&S Advisor is a Charter Member of the Institute of Occupational Health and works closely with our medical team. We would also be able to provide you with an Occupational Health Nurse Practitioner who would advise you whether the employee is Fit or Unfit for work –the nurse is also CMIOSH. If the employee is at Senior Managerial level and would require a more in depth assessment, we could provide the services of our Occupational Health Physician who would give your employee a more detailed clinical examination – the Doctor is to MIOSH standard and could also assist with the risk assessment. My Company is called Sound Advice Safety & Health Limited and can be contacted on 01925 838350 website www.soundadviceltd.co.uk Hope that helps

Posted By Joan Blease I would agree with the previous postings that it is very important that you obtain the correct level of sound advice regarding this employee who has been absent from work for over a year after having serious health problems. As a matter of urgency I would suggest that you contact a Company who can provide you with Occupational Health Advice AND assist you with the risk assessment to ascertain whether your employee is Fit or Unfit to return to work – even though it is only on a part time basis. Sorry to read that you do not have the necessary OH support “in house”. It must be very frustrating working for a Company who is still in the “dark ages” your description – not mine. Hope this helps

Posted By Kieran J Duignan You may find the questionnaires available from Work Screen Ltd. meet your need. Developed under the guidance of a professor of rheumatology, they are well-tested, short and inexpensive. On completing the questionnaire, you can also get a feedback report about relevant physical, psychological and social factors relevant to effective rehabilitation. The publisher's website is www.work-screen.co.uk. I have no commercial association with them, other than as a prospective purchaser of their materials and scoring service.

Posted By Christopher Long I can't see why anyone should refuse to see a specialist; they'd have to have pretty good reasons. However, if this becomes the case then the employee should be suspended from work until such time the problem is sorted out. You have to remember that the employee has a duty to assist his employee where special arrangements are being made to ensure continuation of work. I think that any reasonable person would not allow this to happen but you have to think of the liability risks to the company if the risk assessment is not addressed fully.

Posted By Kieran J Duignan Mr/Ms/etc. Sayers To a degree I can appreciate your anxiety: in most organsiations, 'occupational health' operates still as an 'orphan' kind of function. If you belief that another staff management colleague, e.g. HR, is in a better position than you to communicate sensitively, it may be advisable to recruit him/her in the process. This is especially the case if the employee concerned perceives significant differences between you and him/her as regards age, gender or religious beliefs which he/she may associate with the difficulty. Progress slowly, avoiding any grounds for an allegation of disrimination or harassment by suspension. While not all ill or disabled employees are as co-operative as they should be, the law tends to operate on the basis that the employer's officers (including safety practitioners) are expected to show evidence of exercising all possible care and respect for the employee who is injured, ill or disabled. You may find it easier to manage if you view the challenge as a good opportunity to learn.

Posted By Merv Newman S, I understand your problem. It happened to me once or twice. Many employers don't really understand that being signed off as "fit to work" doesn't really mean "fit for anything" They also consider that "getting back into the swing of things as fast as possible" can be therapeutic. I do tend to agree with the "therapeutic" bit but not necessarily with "as fast as possible" Merv

Posted By Joan Blease As you say in your posting, the employee should probably have been seen by an Occ. Health Professional (to assess whether he is fit to return to work) before starting back – isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing! After consultation with the Occ. Health Professional , a rehabilitation programme would have been agreed and the employee monitored to ensure that “all was well”. But all is not lost, perhaps it would be a good idea to suggest to the employee that a visit from an Occ. Health Professional (to assess whether he was coping with his return to work and whether any adjustments need to be made to the workplace) would be beneficial to him. In other words, because he is a valued member of staff, you would like to monitor his progress to ensure that he coping well with his work load etc – this is essential if he works under pressure. The Occ. Health Professional would then be able to continue to monitor the rehabilitation programme and give advice on when or if the employee was able to return to full time employment. Any adjustments to the employee’s workplace could also be highlighted. Again I would recommend careful choice of the Occ. Health Professional as this person would need to understand the environment that the employee was working in- especially as you say that you have not carried out a Risk assessment.

Posted By Lilian McCartney There's always EMAS to help (are they still on the go?) After my recent illness my employers thought that I'd be too hard on myself and got someone else to advise my Manager on the risk assessment (being the only H&S Adviser here) They got OH. I still get told not to do too much so watch out for the guilt he's feeling at being off for so long and also the feeling of wanting everything to be the way it was before i.e. being able to do everything they could before - these could surface even if you've got a full risk assessment.

Posted By S Sayers Massive thanks to everyone who has taken the time to offer advice. I'm sure the meeting on Monday will go just fine. If not, check out he forum next week, as i may have more questions to ask............