More than 50 million people worldwide suffer from epilepsy making it the most common neurological disease. In addition, the number of epileptics is still increasing. IT is therefeore not uncommon to find people with this diagnosis asking for a job in your company or already working for you. What should employers and ultimately their HR professionals know about the disease?
Answers to this question are provides the guide entitled Epilepsy and Occupational Health issued by Epilepsy Scotland. It is the first guide of its kind in Great Britain. It describes the causes of the disease and best practices in how to assist employees who suffer from it. Apart from the references to British legislation that does not exist in our country but that can be a great example for us, the guide contains useful tips for Czech employers, too - such as how to assess possbile risks, the description of different types of first aid or ways to raise awareness of the disease among other employees.
It is important to know that there are different types of epilepsy. While some seizures last only a few seconds, others may take many minutes. 70% of people who take anti-epileptic medcine do not suffer any severe seizures. In the UK, about 80 new diagnoses of epilepsy occur every day and the number of older people with this diagnosis is predicted to increase by 50% in the next two decades. Regarding the increasing retirement age, we should prepare for the fact that there will be more mad more epileptics in the workplaces.
The guide can be downloaded here.
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