Ill health history

[vespaboy]

I've managed to land myself a good job at my local power station, I've had verbal aclnowledgement that it is definately mine as long as my references and medical are ok.

2 years ago I left a Company as part of a compromise agreement redundancy (the Company was closing soon) after I'd had a back injury whilst at work (damaged 2 of my discs in my back).

2 questions:

1) If contacted for a reference can/will the Company I left 2 years ago mention my back inljury?

2) Should I mention it at my medical, I am ok now but do not want to hinder my chances of getting the job by them thinking I will be unfit.

Advise please?

[mkt]

i'd probably mention it as these things have a habit of coming out and it looks worse if you havent mentioned it. Also if youre having no problems anymore and you pass the medical i can't see it being a problem. Most medical questionnaires only ask if you've had inpatient treatment in the last year or so and even then its not usually a problem. As long as it you haven't had a recurrence and the old injury won't hinder your ability to do the job now they can't really cite it as a reason not to employ you. What exactly will you be doing...is there a lot of lifting or anything? Congrats by the was!

[vespaboy]

The job consists mainly of running a computer operated process along with driving heavy machinery.

There is a small amount of manual work - cleaning etc but I do not think this will cause me any problems as before my back injury I was always fairly fit and have managed to keep pretty trim and healthy.

[WendyS]

I think honesty is the best policy. If you pass the medical which will consider the type of work you will be doing, then there shouldn't be grounds for rejecting you for an earlier medical problem which is no longer an issue.

Regarding your reference, my feeling is that your former company might mention the reason for your leaving but will probably class your reason for leaving as Redundancy. However, as you say the company was closing soon, are they still in existence? If they're not, then perhaps that particular issue doesn't arise. If they still exist in some form and do mention your former injury I still believe that if you are fully fit now, it's past history and shouldn't be relevant.