Posted By STEVE
Could anyone please assist

Currently have a recently employed individual who is requiring presciption safety spectacles £ 150.

He has only been with us 8wks, and on his request I have checked his pre medical form(with his permission), and he does not identify any problem under the vision section.

By law do we have to provide these spectacles? when not identified on his employment medical form?

If we do what part of the cost do we have to pay for the frame? the lens?

within his 8 wks of employment surely he has not developed an eye problem

he must of know this problem, but has failed to identify on pre medical assessment form.

any help most obliged, regarding provision of safety prescription glasses

Steve

Posted By Alan Spiers
I agree with reply given but you can agrue dependant on protection required and length of time required to be worn that prescription safety glasses are not supplied at all because the requirement for protection can be given with over specs, goggle or visor.

Posted By Bob Shillabeer
In short yes you will need to provide them free of charge as they are deemed PPE. Under the HASAW Act it is the employer's responsibility to provide, free of charge, any safety equipment an individual requires to carry out the job. However, does the individual need the glasses to do the job? That is the main question here, have you assesed the activity involved and identified safety glasses as being necessary? If he does then you are legally required to provide the glasses. The type of glasses will depend on the nature of the work involved, for instance if it is task that only takes a short period of time to complete and is only a small part of the days work then over glasses would possibly be enough to provide the required level of protection if however, the activity is quite long then more prescriptive glasses may need to be provided. The thing about having no record on his employment application does not come into this question at all, he may have had his eyes tested after starting his employment or not have know he had such a condition before starting work, the fact remains he has now identified the need and you as the employer must accept that position. Would it have made any difference to his employment if he had known before that his eyes needed glasses??

The cost of providing these glasses may be of more benefit if he is a good employee, so why worry about it the cost is quite small anyway.

Posted By James K
Hi folks,
Can I ask a question coming from a different angle in relatoin to pre-medical questionnaires.
I recently starte with a company that never had any pre-employment medical questionnaires completed by eployees at any level. Can I request employees now to complete a form and if so what format would I take..the company is in two parts...metal fabrication and construction.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Jim

Posted By Dave Daniel
Steve- This was something we had to consider in British Leyland back in 1976 - the law hasn't changed in this context. Sadly knowledge is not always retained in the profession.

HASAWA does require free of charge provision of PPE, but you can provide overspecs or a visor rather than prescription specs.

We did introduce a scheme where prescription eye protection was available on a part-funded basis. The motto was "we pay for protection, you pay for correction". This was done with the full knowledge of the HSE inspectors who were on site somewhere in the company every week and expressed no concerns.

In any event there are jobs where prescription specs aren't appropriate and you have to wear goggles or visors.

Posted By Martyn Hendrie
Be careful when assessing the risk of eye injury to proved the correct level of protection.

As I understand it "safety spectacles" whether prescription or not, are not suitable for possible "high speed" impacts. e.g. grinding machines. breakers, etc.

Hope this helps

Martyn

Posted By Haggis JM
Usually pre-employment questionnaires ask for 'disabilities', or 'conditions affecting your ability to work' - I can assure you that I would not class my wearing of spectacles as coming under either heading.

My photosensitivity may be another matter though, particularly when I had to share an office and others want high light levels...

Now in my own office so can happily be on my way to becoming a mushroom (kept in the dark and fed on sh..)

Posted By DJ
James,

Funnily enough, I have just finished a case where this very issue was raised.

There are really big risks in asking prospective employees to complete pre-employment questionnaires, both in terms of data protection and disability discrimination.

It is unlawful to discriminate against a job applicant on the grounds of their disability and so there are some basic rules to be followed in respect of medical questions:

i. any question must be directly applicable to that individual and his/her ability to do the job for which they are being hired; therefore

ii. questions put to an individual about medical conditions that might affect their ability to do the job should only be put once they have been offered the job (and must only relate to their ability to do that job); and

iii. the purpose of the questions must primarily be for the purpose of assessing what "reasonable adjustments" the organisation would need to make to allow that person to do the job.

In this way, a candidate cannot claim that they were refused a job on grounds of their disability (albeit that it may later be held that the adjustments that would need to be made to allow them to work are unreasonable).

There is then the question of what to do with the information once you have obtained it. Data protection laws on the storage and use of sensitive personal data are now quite stringent and the way in which you store or use information gained from medical questionnaires could put individuals and the organisation in breach of both the DDA and the DPA.

Long winded, but I hope this helps.