Risk assessment - light duties

If staff have suffered an injury or illness, they may be able to return to work on light duties. Use our risk assessment to bring them back to work safely.

Fit for light duties

If a member of staff is ill, or has been injured - either in the workplace or in their private life - they are likely to receive a fit note from their GP. This will either state that they aren’t fit to return to work for a set period or it may identify that they are fit for light duties. However, it won’t tell you what these may include.

Do a job

Obviously, it’s in your interests to get your staff back into the workplace as quickly as possible - especially if you’re paying them. However, you don’t want to do this at the expense of their health and wellbeing. For example, if the employee has an open wound, if appropriate precautions aren’t put in place, bringing them back into work could increase the likelihood of an infection or prevent the injury from healing properly.

Risk assessment

You must identify an appropriate course of action for getting your employee back to work without increasing the potential liability risk. Therefore, it’s vital that you work out what duties they are actually able to do safely. To achieve this, use our Risk Assessment - Light Duties document.