Hi Chris,

I believe this was raised earlier in the year: http://forum.iosh.co.uk/posts/t133009-Epilepsy-and-Stairs---Looking-for-a-sentencing-statement

Regards

R

Certainly.

And you can drive, albeit under certain conditions.

Yes it appears you can drive but only if your seizures happen when asleep or you have been free from them for more than 12 months.

I found the case in the article interesting as despite Peters very logical argument that it was relatively small, still £3.5m is a lot of money however big your pockets are.

There seemed to be a focus on the frequency of using the stairs more than 8 times a day. However it takes say 20 seconds to go up or down some stairs so in total you are exposed for a total of 5 minutes 20 seconds in an 8 hour day, 20 seconds at a time ( 8 trips up and 8 down).

They also commented that he had had a recent seizure, so can’t you ask people to work or have altered duties if possible for a period after ( 12 months???). My understanding some people can feel seizures coming on and others can’t.

So, should we not allow people with this condition use the stairs full stop? Or only if they have been seizure free for 12 months (not sure all employers could accommodate a change in duties for a year). If you have no choice for an employee to use the stairs, can they not do that job? I feel it is discriminatory to prevent people from doing a job due to that.

Most companies now I feel run very lean on employees there is little to no spare capacity, and I think recently companies have been running under capacity (not enough people). Could such a finding make such a company think twice before employing someone with epilepsy.

Employers have a duty of care, but how far should that go. I can’t help but think if the unfortunate person who died had been asked a week before if they were ok to use the stairs the likely answer would have been yes (I of course could be wrong on this).

Chris