Display screen equipment, risk

To encourage employers to protect the health of their workers and reduce the risks associated with VDU work, the HSE have introduced the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992. The regulations came into force on 1 January 1993, and employers who use standard office VDUs must show that they have taken steps to comply with the regulations. 

Good employers, who comply with the Display Screen Equipment Regulations, should let their employees know what care has been taken to reduce the risk to their health and safety at work. Users should be given information on ... 

Occupational health is concerned with physical and psychological hazards as well as chemical and biological hazards. The physical occupational hazards have been well-known for many years and the recent emphasis has been on the development of lower risk workplace environments. Physical hazards include topics such as electricity and manual handling which were covered in earlier chapters and noise, display screen equipment and radiation which are discussed in this chapter. 

Possible hazards associated with display screen equipment are physical (musculoskeletal) problems, visual fatigue and mental stress. They are not unique to display screen work nor an inevitable consequence of it, and indeed research shows that the risk to the individual from typical display screen work is low. However, as in other types of work, ill-health can result from poor work organization, working environment, job design and posture, and from inappropriate working methods. 

These Regulations require an employer to undertake workstation analysis in order to reduce risks to display screen equipment users. Regulation 2 is framed thus ... 

DISPLAY SCREEN EQUIPMENT WORKSTATION RISK ASSESSMENT... 

FIG 3.7 Display screen equipment workstation risk assessment... 

Making risk assessments for all work activities — including manual handling, issue of personal protective equipment, users of display screen equipment and other work equipment, and for COSHH substances... 

The above comments have been directed at general activity risk assessments. It is easy to forget that more specific assessments could be required in order to comply with (for example) the Manual Handling Operations Regulations, the Display Screen Equipment Regulations (which apply to display screens in use in site offices) and the assessment requirements within the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations. These are addressed in more detail later in this chapter. 

There is no prescribed format for risk assessments. Health and Safety Executive guidance is limited to Five Steps to Risk Assessment , which is considered to be insufficiently detailed for construction industry needs, and specimen examples in the guidance material associated with the Manual Handling Operations Regulations and the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations (see below). 

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