Update Details: A new Health and Safety update has been issued on Display Screen Equipment (DSE). The full article has been emailed to subscribers with the H&S updates preference and is available as a PDF on the Health and Safety Updates page.
Why Display Screen Equipment Matters
Screen work doesn't look hazardous, which is why it is so often left out of the risk assessment programme. The harm it causes builds slowly and quietly: aching shoulders, a stiff neck, sore wrists, tired eyes and headaches. Between them, musculoskeletal complaints and eye strain account for a large share of working days lost, and almost all of it can be designed out at the desk.
What the Display Screen Equipment Update Covers
The update sets out who counts as a DSE user, which is a lower bar than most employers expect, and covers the five duties the regulations place on an employer: assessing each workstation, meeting the minimum requirements for chair, screen, keyboard, space and lighting, planning breaks and changes of activity, providing eye and eyesight tests on request, and training users to set themselves up and to report problems.
It also deals with the part the 1992 regulations never anticipated, which is hybrid and home working. Laptops, hot desks and kitchen-table setups all fall within the same duties, and the update covers the practical route to assessing a workstation you cannot walk up to.
Getting the Full Display Screen Equipment Update
The full article, together with the supporting assessment and policy documentation, is provided to subscribers as part of the update service.
Health and Safety updates are issued as part of the ISO and legal update service, so each issue is emailed to subscribers as it is published. Every issue is also listed on the Health and Safety Updates page, where anyone can see what has been covered and alphaZ subscribers can download the updates in pdf format, for topic-specific training or for sending out to workers.
