The scenario in this article is illustrative. It is a composite drawn from themes that come up often in workplace assessments, and it describes no real person, employer or report.
A retail colleague has worked in the same large store for six years. She is warm with customers and knows the stock better than most. This year her team leader has noticed that she avoids the till points near the entrance, takes longer over price checks, and has twice asked for the stockroom light to be turned down. She has also started wearing sunglasses on the shop floor, which the store’s dress code does not allow.
The colleague has not said that anything is wrong with her sight. She has said she gets “bad headaches under the lights”. A manager hearing that might reach for an optometrist’s letter or a conversation about performance. An assessment starts somewhere more useful: what, in this building, is making the day harder than it needs to be?
Why light matters so much for some people
For many people with a visual impairment, light is not simply a matter of “more” or “less”. Bright overhead lighting, daylight through shop windows and reflective surfaces can cause discomfort and reduce the vision a person can actually use. Moving between a bright shop floor and a dim stockroom can leave the eyes slow to adjust. Screens, price labels and shiny packaging add glare of their own.
Light sensitivity is frequently mistaken for fussiness. The colleague in this scenario was not being awkward. Her working conditions varied from one end of the building to the other, and nobody had looked at them with her.
How the referral happens
In this scenario, the team leader talks to the colleague privately, asks open questions about what makes the day harder, and with her agreement asks HR to arrange a visual impairment workplace assessment. The referral describes the role, the store layout at a general level and what the employer would like to understand. It does not ask for a diagnosis, and it does not ask whether she is fit for the role. A workplace assessment gives neither.
What the assessment involves
The assessment can be carried out by video call or in person. The assessor follows her working day. Which areas does she work in? What does she read: price labels, delivery notes, the till screen, a handheld device? How far from the eye? Where does the light come from at each point? What does she do now to manage, and what does it cost her in time and energy?
In this scenario she explains that the till points by the entrance are the worst because of daylight from the windows and reflections from the counter. She finds small price labels hard to read under bright overhead lights, and the glossy screen of the handheld device catches the lighting. She moves between the shop floor and the stockroom many times a shift, and each change takes a minute or two to settle. By the end of a shift she is tired, and the headaches she described to her team leader tend to start in the second half.
The assessor records what she describes and notes what could be changed in the space. The assessment does not diagnose, does not predict how her sight may change and does not comment on capability.
What the report recommends
The report is a workplace adjustments report. It is non-clinical, and each recommendation stands alone, with its own title and a reason that links back to something the colleague described. Recommendations that need an employer decision are put to the line manager for discussion. In this scenario, recommendations might include the following.
| Barrier reported | Possible adjustment | Why it may help |
|---|---|---|
| Daylight and counter reflections at the entrance tills | Blinds or window film at the entrance, and a matte surface on the counter where this is practical | May cut the glare reaching the eyes at the busiest point of the shop |
| Glossy handheld screen catching the lights | A matte anti-glare screen protector for the device | May make the display easier to read under overhead lighting |
| Small price labels | Larger, bolder price labels and shelf-edge signage on the lines she handles most | May reduce the need to lean in or take a second look, and help customers too |
| Slow adjustment between shop floor and stockroom | More even, consistent lighting in back-of-house corridors and the stockroom, with the light level agreed with her | May shorten the adjustment time when she moves between areas |
| Overhead lights causing discomfort | Anti-glare diffusers or filters on the lights above her usual work areas, and a review of any flickering tubes | May reduce discomfort and the fatigue that builds through a shift |
| Needing to avoid the entrance tills | A discussion about which till points she covers and when, within the store rota | May let her work in the places where she sees best |
| Concern about wearing tinted glasses | A conversation with her line manager about what she may wear on the shop floor, and signposting to an optometrist for advice on lenses | Avoids a misunderstanding about the dress code, and puts lens advice with the right professional |
Where lighting changes need the landlord or facilities team, the report says so. Where an item is a purchase, such as the screen protector, it is specific enough for the buyer to order from the employer’s preferred supplier.
What this might change
Adjustments do not change the underlying condition, and results differ between individuals. In this scenario, what the changes might do is lower the daily cost of seeing. She may be able to work the whole shop, not only the dim corners of it, and the headaches that came with the lights may ease. For the employer, the signs that looked like avoidance or poor attitude turn out to be someone managing a hostile environment.
Several of these changes help other people too: customers with low vision, older customers and colleagues who find the lighting harsh.
What this means for occupational health, HR and case managers
Referrers can improve what they get from an assessment by describing the setting concretely. A report written for a retail unit with shared lighting and rota-based tills reads very differently from one written for an office. Say who controls the lighting. Say whether the assessor can speak to the site team. Ask for function, not diagnosis: what can she read, at what size, under what light? And keep clear what the assessment is not. It sits alongside occupational health and optometric advice and does not replace them.
Environmental recommendations often need a decision from someone other than the line manager. Agree before the report arrives who will pick them up, because items that belong to no one tend to stall.
Legal rights and support
Under the Equality Act 2010, a person is disabled where they have an impairment with a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Where the definition is met, the employer must make reasonable adjustments. Access to Work, run by the Department for Work and Pensions, can pay for some practical support for eligible people in England, Scotland and Wales, but GOV.UK states that it does not cover reasonable adjustments an employer must legally make. Check GOV.UK for the current rules. Whether the definition is met for a particular person depends on their circumstances, and this article is general information rather than legal advice.
Summary
The shop floor colleague in this scenario was not struggling with the job. She was struggling with the lighting, the signage and the screens around it. A visual impairment workplace assessment looked at each part of her working day and set out changes that could be taken one at a time, starting with those that cost the least effort. Most of them are about the space, not the person.
Watch the short film
A short film about three colleagues who each see the same office differently, and why one fix never suits everyone.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. It is an illustrative composite, written to show how the assessment process works. It does not describe a real person, employer or report.
A workplace assessment is non-clinical. It can record how light affects the person at work and signpost to an optometrist for advice on lenses, which is where that decision belongs.
That depends on who controls the building. Some changes sit with the line manager, others with facilities or a landlord. The report identifies which recommendations need a decision and from whom, as far as the assessor has been told.
The assessment is concerned with what she can and cannot see at work. A named condition is useful context, but the functional detail matters more to the recommendations.
If you or someone in your team is visually impaired and would like expert, tailored support to stay productive and comfortable at work, visit https://visualisetrainingandconsultancy.com/workplace-assessments/visual-impairment-workplace-assessments/ to arrange a visual impairment workplace assessment.
Sources
GOV.UK, Access to Work: get support if you have a disability or health condition: https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work
GOV.UK, Access to Work, Eligibility: https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work/eligibility
GOV.UK, Definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010: https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010
legislation.gov.uk, Equality Act 2010, section 20: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/20
Acas, Reasonable adjustments at work: https://www.acas.org.uk/reasonable-adjustments
Health and Safety Executive, Lighting at work: https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg38.htm
RNIB, Lighting and visual impairment: https://www.rnib.org.uk/