Assessing Display Screen Equipment

The health and safety display screen equipment regulations of 1992 and the 2002 amendments contain special directives covering DSE safety. Both employers and employees who use DSE have responsibilities under the legislation. This course fulfils the employers statutory training obligations and helps reduce the risk of severe eye strain and other debilitating conditions as a result of poor practice working with display screen equipment. The regulations only apply to people who regularly use DSE as a significant part of their normal work:  daily for continuous periods of an hour or more. The regulations don’t apply if you only use DSE infrequently, or for short periods.

This course fulfils the employers statutory training obligations and also helps employers reduce the risk of relating to display screen equipment work.

DSE, display screen equipment training is required by law to be completed by all employees who regularly use a display screen during their working day.

A user is anyone who regularly uses display screen equipment for a significant part of their normal work. In practice, if you have an employee who works with DSE continuously for more than an hour a day, then they’re a DSE user.

This display screen training course covers how to correct the positioning and adjustments of a user’s working environment and how to foster good habits to reduce the effects of stress on their body. Some specific areas of the working environment of a DSE worker that are examined on this training course include:

Chairs:
A suitable stable chair should have its seat adjusted  to the correct height for the individual needs of the DSE user and the backrest tilted to support the shape of the spine. Ensuring you have a chair that fully support you will help prevent musculus problems caused by bad posture, or excessive and repetitive strain on particular parts of your body.

Screens
We look at various adjustments to the physical position of an employee’s display screen equipment and adjustments to consider to ensure a safer working environment. A correctly positioned DSE will protect your body, making your working life easier and more comfortable and will help prevent severe eye strain and long term damage to eyesight. We also discuss the importance of regular eye tests to ensure users have the correct glasses for computer screens.

Working Procedures
Whenever possible work using a DSE should consist of a mix of screen based and non screen based tasks to prevent risks. In many tasks, natural breaks or pauses occur. Some software packages monitor break times automatically to ensure that users adhere to safe work arrangements. When long spells of DSE work are unavoidable, they need to be broken up by periods of work that does not involve a DSE. If that is not possible, there should be formal organised breaks built into the work schedule.

Employers need a health and safety policy for display screen equipment that gives clear procedures. This training course offers extensive guidance on how to carry out straightforward procedures for helping employees with sight tests, peripheral equipment and assessing the workspace and individual workstations to ensure that severe eye strain and other risks associated with display screen equipment are controlled and minimised.

As a DSE risk assessor, employers, or other company representatives, need to know how to review users own assessments to identify additional controls. These are needed to be able to address problems that DSE users cannot solve for themselves. This means knowing where to find additional information and support.  Significant findings must be recorded in the correct format.

Risk assessment templates are included in the training material.

Workplaces vary enormously so it’s hard to give prescriptive directions or universally correct courses of action.  However, developing flexible and generic processes on the control and prevention of injuries through the use of DSEs will give clear guidance for employers and employees to follow. There are eight principles and once you’ve understood these principles and how to apply them, you’ll be in a good position to make discretionary judgments in specific real world situations. The course details each these principles and how to use them as part of the risk assessment and incorporate them into your company’s health and safety plan.

The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations contain special directives that cover DSE safety. Both employers and employee have responsibilities under the legislation. The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 act governs display screen equipment.