volunteer who has seizures

Dear Michelle,
Thanks for your question, you are right on all your assumptions you have made, in this case you need to fulfill your obligations both under health and safety and under disability legislation.
I do not consider there is need of a fit for work doctor’s note as long as your volunteer has disclosed all the necessary information for you to carry out your health and safety obligations, the new starter needs to be aware that he/she has an obligation to help you with health and safety duties and to not put him/herself or others in danger. The fact that the work that is going to be carried out does not required hazardous activities, which it is the case (computer/office work) the only need is for you to carry out a specific risk assessment.
During your risk assessment you might include the following questions: 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?
For example if the person usually has seizures within a short time of waking up, a reasonable adjustment may be to allow them to start and finish work later than other employees (this would only apply if the workplace is open during those hours), if the person’s seizures are always in an afternoon, you could make sure they do not work alone at that time (this would allow a colleague to offer help, if that was needed). Assess access and egress to the workplace, for example the use of stairs and lifts. With his/hers answers and help you will be able to put in place reasonable adjustment in the workplace.
I definitely would train and inform other staff about the situation, like you said in your question this will help to avoid panic, I believe the new starter is the best person to help you designing an emergency action plan; for example to move furniture around, not put anything in the mouth of the person or not restraining the body while the seizure is taken place) staff that is not aware about what to do in an emergency may do something that may put the person having a seizure in danger.
The target is that the residual risks to the person of accident or injury would be well below that accepted on a daily basis in activities such as driving, and the risks to others would be negligible.
Thanks and best regards Maria

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Hello,

I have just been informed that we are due to have a new volunteer starting with us on Monday. He has advised that he suffers from seizures and that these generally occur 1-2 times a week.
He will be working with us for approx 1 month and doing database work.
Can you please tell me if I should request a doctors letter stating that he is fit for work, I also need to know what kind of precautions we need to take - should we inform staff (obviously with his consent) so that they don't panic. Also I am assuming that we need to do a special risk assessment for this person - so are there any spcific questions or areas that I may not think to cover?
Look forward to hearing from you soon.
Many thanks,
Michelle