Part Four - Safety and security

On the issue of health and safety, one question which often arises is - what should an organisation do if an employee develops a condition which means they can no longer carry out their normal duties safely?"

An extreme example, to illustrate the point, might be a scaffolding worker who permanently loses their vision.

Brendan O'Gorman told us: "Where there's a direct conflict, other legislation trumps the DDA. The basic point is that the DDA does not require any action which would place anyone's health or safety at risk.

"A bus company does not have to hire someone whose eyesight would make them a danger on the road. A department store does not have to give a wheelchair user access to an upper floor via the goods lift if there is no safe egress from the upper floor (or place of refuge) in the event of a fire.

"However, some far fetched safety risk is not an excuse."

As always, health and safety comes down to risk assessment. In the extreme case of a scaffolding worker losing their eyesight, a clearly unmanageable risk would exist both for the employee and his or her colleagues. However, simply dismissing the worker may still be inappropriate, if the employee was able to take up an alternative role for example.

Access control

In terms of controlling access to buildings, it is unlikely that any conflict should arise with the DDA.

The overriding factor here is the making of "reasonable adjustments", the principles of which has already been covered.

Firms should question whether card readers, or devices for inputting access codes are positioned appropriately, or perhaps whether alternative systems could be adopted. Any barriers or turnstile systems must also cater for wheelchair users or persons with other disabilities.

The British Security Industry Association (BSIA) recently produced a guide to access control and how organisations can ensure compliance with the DDA. This is available from the downloads sections of the BSIA's website - see link above right.

BSIA technical director, Alex Carmichael, said: "There is some confusion about which access control systems are DDA compliant and which are not. Our guideline document has been designed to be used alongside the DDA itself as a means to clarify the situation for end-users."

One other aspect of the Act, which may be relevant as far as safety and security is concerned, is the provision that no reasonable adjustment would be required if it changed the "fundamental nature of the business".