Risk Assessments

This information is of general use in epilepsy and employment. However, references to regulations apply to people in the UK only. If you live outside the UK, then more information about epilepsy and employment where you are will be available from your local epilepsy organisation.

Epilepsy affects each person differently and every workplace is different, so it is not possible to have set guidelines for risk assessments for people with epilepsy. Each person must be assessed on an individual basis for any potential risks to health and safety that they may face at work.

Here is a list of some of the questions you may be asked during a risk assessment.

• What type(s) of seizure do you have?
• How often do you have seizures?
• How long do your seizures usually last?
• What usually happens when you have a seizure?
• How long does it usually take you to recover from a seizure?
• What time of day do you usually have seizures?
• Do you get a warning, also known as an ‘aura’, before you have a seizure?

The answers to these questions will help the person who is doing the assessment to have an idea of any possible risks to your safety, and that of others, that your epilepsy may cause. They can use this information to suggest adjustments that your employer could make, to reduce these risks.

A risk assessment may identify that it would be dangerous for you to work in a kitchen near hot stoves if your seizures are frequent and unpredictable. However, it may be safe for you to work in a separate area of the kitchen where there is no danger of falling onto a stove, such as a dessert preparation area.

If your seizures are not fully controlled and a small part of your job involved working with dangerous chemicals which you could spill if you had a seizure, your employer may decide to delegate that part of your job to someone else.

If you look after young children on your own and your seizures are uncontrolled, it may be dangerous for the health and safety of the children if you had a seizure. Your employer may be able to make this situation safe by making sure that there are other adults working with you when you are looking after the children.

In some cases, your epilepsy would have very little, if any, impact on the job you are to do. However, if your epilepsy changes in the future, this could be re-assessed. For example, your employer may not need to make any changes or adjustments to make the workplace safer for you if your seizures are well controlled, or if you work in an environment which would not be dangerous if you did have a seizure, such as in an office.

If you have uncontrolled seizures, there are some jobs which would not be suitable for you, for health and safety reasons. For example, if you had a seizure while you were working up a ladder, this could be dangerous for both you and any colleagues that you are working with. A risk assessment may show that there is nothing your employer could do to make the situation safe. In this instance, for health and safety reasons, you would not be able to do this part of a job. However, this could be reassessed in the future if you gained seizure control.

There are several activities which may pose special dangers for you if your seizures are not controlled, so would need to be carefully considered in a risk assessment. These include working:

• at unprotected heights
• near open water
• with high voltage or open circuit electricity
• with unguarded apparatus or machines
• on or near moving vehicles
• with chemicals, unguarded fires, ovens and hot plates
• on isolated sites.

Who does the risk assessments?

This information applies to people in the UK only.

Many employers carry out their own risk assessments and they can get advice from the following organisations. You might find it helpful to make your employer aware of these, if they are not already.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE)

The HSE provides general information and guidance for employers about work-related health and safety issues. They also offer a free leaflet Five steps to risk assessment, which aims to help employers to do their own risk assessments. This can be downloaded from their website.

Tel. 0845 345 0055

Further help and advice on risk assessments

There are many private health & safety consultancies who will visit your workplace and carry out a risk assessment on behalf of your employer. These will charge for their services.

Details of health & safety consultancies can be found in telephone directories and through internet search engines.

Last updated 16 April 2008