Pre-employment colour vision testing.
Male candidates (1020) for employment in occupations that required discrimination of colour were subjected to the Ishihara test and two trade tests of colour perception, the Giles Archer Lantern test and the Electricity Supply Industry (ESI) wire test. One hundred candidates failed the Ishihara test, 61 of the 100 passed both trade tests; 16 of the 100 passed the wire test alone and 7 of the 100 passed the lantern test alone but only 16 failed all 3 tests. Seventy-seven of the 84 who passed some part of their colour perception assessment were offered employment appropriate to their colour vision ability. Eleven of the 16 who passed the wire test alone and 3 of the 6 who passed the lantern test alone successfully entered employment. The Ishihara test, whilst being a useful screening test, is not sufficient on its own as a test of suitability for employment; one or more trade tests should be administered before rejecting candidates who fail it.
McElearney
N L
NL
British Airways Health Services, Heathrow Airport, Middlesex, UK.
Waddy
R S
RS
Rawll
C C
CC
D000401:Aircraft; D003117:Color Vision Defects / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004651:Employment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D015351:Vision Screening / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards