Health and safety and computers

One concern for computer-based workers should be posture. Sitting in a poor position for a whole working day, or even part of the day, can cause a lot of health problems, especially with the back and neck.

Another worry is spending a long time in front of an electronic screen, which can be damaging to the eyes.

The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 set out how employers should handle the risk of working with computer equipment. These regulations place obligations on employers whose employees use display screen equipment (e.g. computers and laptops) daily for continuous periods of an hour or more.

The following information will help to ensure that your company is compliant with the legislation.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) advises that you must:

• Analyse workstations to assess and reduce risk
• Make sure workers take breaks from screen work
• Provide information and training for workers
• Provide eye and eyesight tests on request, and special spectacles if needed
• Review the assessment when the user or DSE changes.

DSE Workstation Assessments

You should carry out a DSE assessment for each member of staff who uses DSE as part of their normal work in order to identify the DSE-related risks that each individual faces. From this you should be able to ascertain what needs to be done and ensure that any necessary action is taken.

In general there are a number of things that you can do in order to reduce the risk to your employees involved with DSE use. When carrying out your assessment you can use these as pointers as to whether your employee is at any risk.

Some of the recommendations made by the HSE for the reduction of risk to your employees resulting from the use of DSE are:

• Glare or bright reflections from the screen should be avoided. This can be accomplished by making sure that it is not facing windows or bright lights.
• Curtains or blinds should be used to block out intrusive light.
• There should be space under the desk for employees to move their legs.
• Space should be left in front of the keyboard for the hands and wrists to rest when not typing.
• Good typing technique should be encouraged, i.e. keeping a soft touch on the keys and not overstretching the fingers.
• The mouse should be positioned within easy reach of the user.
• The user should be sat upright and close to the desk so that the mouse-using arm is not stretched.
• The forearm should be supported on the desk and the mouse shouldn’t be gripped too tightly.
• Characters on the screen should be sharp and in focus, and should not flicker or move: The monitor may need to be adjusted or repaired if this is not the case.
• The brightness and contrast should be adjusted to suit the surroundings.
• Text should be large enough to read in a normal comfortable working position, and colour schemes which are hard on the eyes should be avoided.

Breaks from DSE time

Breaking up your employees’ time at their computer can help avoid health problems. Giving them structured or organised rest breaks can help to achieve this. Other things you can recommend your employees to do are:

• Stretch and change position
• Look into the distance from time to time and blink often

The HSE advises that action should be taken before employees get tired rather than after, and that short and frequent breaks are preferable to long and infrequent ones.

Eye test requests

If an employee that uses DSE or will potential use DSE requests an eye test, the employer is required to arrange and pay it. If the result of the test is that the employee needs glasses specifically for DSE work then you must pay for a basic pair a frames and lenses.

You have freedom of choice with regard to how you provide eye tests – some employers allow their employees to choose where they have their test done and to foot the bill, while some choose to send all employees to a specific optician.

Reviewing DSE assessments

You should review your DSE assessments when:

• Major changes are made to equipment, furniture, work environment or software
• Employees change workstations
• The tasks performed by employees with DSE change considerably
• Controls in place may be causing other problems.

Disclaimer: This information is for general guidance regarding rights and responsibilities and is not formal legal advice as no lawyer-client relationship has been created. Note that the information was accurate at the time of publication but laws may have since changed.