Posted By clarkey All I am really hoping that you can help me on this as I need to take some sort of action ASAP. We have two operatives that work for our company that are deaf. They both wear hearing aids, but there are still communication issues. It has just recently come to my attention on a site that we have just started on that no risk assessments have been done and that up until now the presence of deaf people on site has not been addressed within the site induction. Can you point out to people at induction stage that there are deaf people on site or would this be classed as some sort of discrimination? Any advice or help is gratefully received.

Posted By Robert K Lewis Clarkey Unless you have specific reasons for doing so this would be seen as unnecessarily placing these persons disability under public gaze. Yes those close work associates will need to be aware but thios should occur within normal social interaction. Your role is to ensure that the workplace is appropriate for these people and advise mqanagement on any changes that may be necessary. If you think about it from another perspective - would you enjoy a medical/similar condition of your own to be openly referred to in an induction course? Of course not so why behave differently for the disabled (hate the word sometimes) Bob

Posted By clarkey Hi everyone Thanks for your comments. Please don't misunderstand me I would hate to be singling people out because of their 'disability' but communication with the deaf people concerned when operating plant has previously proved difficult. As previously said I think it would be better to generally cover the topic of 'disability' and to not 'point fingers' at individuals. The fire alarm systems in place are horns and manual bells so no there are no visual elements. We are doing civils/major groundworks so I think the feasibility of a visual element may be questionable. Does anyone know of any guidance to help me actually write the risk assessment as it appears to be falling onto my lap?

Posted By Messy Shaw With regards to fire, I wouldn't get too hung up on visual alarms. The rationale for such beacons for deaf persons is to place them where it is likely the deaf person will be alone. This is why you see them in communal toilets (offices, pubs etc) and in certain hotel rooms. At other times in other locations you can introduce a buddy system where a hearing person or persons are designated to inform the deaf person that the alarm has actuated. In addition, Fire Wardens, if adequately prepared/trained, should be aware of the needs of these workers and take that into account during a sweep/search of the area All this should be covered in the PEEPs (Personal Emergency Egress Plans) which perhaps should have been prepared for these workers. Such plans detail alterations to the generic emergency plan to take into account the individual's specific needs

Posted By Rodger Alan Ker Once worked in a factory where there were about 20 deaf and dumb people working. Basically no problems arose. The people have to take the same "precautions" at work as they do outside (traffic etc). If you have concerns, contact the RNID, they will be very helpful and supportive

Posted By Bob Thompson CMIOSH Hi Clarkey. with regards to the subject of deafness you will probably find that the people themselves would relish the opportunity to have a say in how they prefer to manage their deafness, each will have a prefered method of comunication which best suits their needs as hearing aids dont work that well anyway. ask them what you as a company and team need to do to enable them to function effectivly, as assumtions made from a site office may be wide of the mark. I myself am deaf and have to adapt on a daily basis in a number of different environments. I personaly take control of the situation and make sure every one knows what my needs are in certain environments no 2 hearing lossss are the same. hope this helps Bob

Posted By clarkey Thank you everyone. We are getting both individuals concerned into the main office so that we can discuss their requirements individually and write the risk assessments accordingly. There have been some good ideas and I think we will do a separate session such as a toolbox talk to ensure that any worker involved in plant operations uses the correct hand signals etc so that there cannot be any communication confusion. I personally also quite like the idea of a buddy system.