What Are My Responsibilities Regarding Employee Workstations?

Depending upon the nature of your business, you may have staff who regularly use display screen equipment (DSE). They must be using this correctly, and as an employer, you are under legal obligations as part of your overall health and safety duties to ensure that this is the case. Where your staff are DSE users and are not using their display screen equipment in a good work environment, this can lead to problems like neck pain, shoulder pain, pain in wrist and hands, poor posture, and eye strain. Where your staff are uncomfortable at work, this could lead to stress and poor morale, which in turn could affect their performance. Therefore, you must understand your responsibilities regarding your employee’s workstations. This article will explain your responsibilities concerning employee workstations and their use of display screen equipment. 

What is Display Screen Equipment?

Display screen equipment (DSE) is equipment your staff may use for their role whilst at work, including:

• PCs; 
• laptops; 
• tablets; and 
• smartphones. 

Where your staff use display screen equipment regularly, they are DSE users. Regularly means that they use it daily, for an hour or more for continuous periods. Conversely, where your staff use DSE occasionally or only for a short time, they are not a DSE user.

What Are an Employer’s Responsibilities Towards DSE Users?

As an employer, you have a legal obligation towards your workers who are DSE users where they are either working:

• from a fixed workstation;
• on a mobile basis;
• from home; or 
• via hot-desking.

Importantly, you must:

1. Carry out a DSE workstation assessment. Where your staff are hot-desking, you should carry out a basic risk assessment if their desks change regularly.
2. Reduce the risks associated with using display screen equipment by ensuring your workers take time away from it during their working day.
3. When your staff member asks for an eye test, ensure you give them one.
4. Provide your workers with training for using display screen equipment and information about it.

There are also minimum requirements associated with workstations that you must ensure. These include:

• adequate lighting;
• adjustable and appropriate seating;
• adjustable brightness and contrast in the screen where the image is stable and the characters are defined well;
• a work surface that allows ample space for all the documents and equipment your worker needs;
• a titling keyboard that is separate from the screen;
• if required, further equipment such as a footrest;
• space surrounding workstations so that your worker can move freely; and
• no noise distraction or noise which could affect concentration.

What is a Workstation Assessment?

If your staff fit the criteria of a DSE user, you are required to carry out a workstation assessment for them. The workstation concerns equipment, furniture, environment, and other related working conditions. You should carry out a workstation assessment when:

• you set up a new workstation;
• someone new starts DSE work;
• you make a change to an existing workstation, or it is due to be used differently; and
• a member of staff who is a DSE user tells you they are experiencing pain or feeling uncomfortable when using display station equipment.

When carrying out a workstation assessment, you should look at the following:

• all the elements of the workstation;
• what job your DSE user is performing; and 
• whether the DSE user has any specific requirements, such as a disability.

Additionally, you can use DSE assessment software to help you carry out the assessment, but a DSE user must not do this alone. Instead, a trained assessor should study the results and rectify any problems.

Further, you must still carry out a workstation assessment where your staff work from home but still qualify as DSE users. If you give them the correct training, they can do this themselves. Finally, you might have some hybrid workers, meaning some staff balance home-working and work in the usual workplace. In that case, you should conduct a workplace assessment for both places.

Reducing Display Station Equipment Risks With Breaks

You must ensure by law that you provide your DSE users with time away from their display screen equipment. It is your responsibility to plan these breaks. This can be in a break or a different type of activity, but you should ensure that the DSE user moves away from their workstation to stretch and change their position. 

There is no legal requirement regarding the time taken from display screen equipment. However, regular short periods away from it are more beneficial than longer, less frequent ones. Indeed, it is good practice to let your DSE user choose when they need to take time away from their display station equipment.

Providing Eye Tests

If any of your DSE staff ask you for an eye test, you are legally obliged to provide them with one and pay for this. An optometrist or doctor must carry out a full eye test.

Should the eye test reveal that they need glasses for the screen, you must pay for them. If, however, it reveals an ordinary eye prescription, you do not have obligations to pay for their glasses.

There are ways that you can encourage your staff to help their eyes when using display screen equipment, such as by ensuring:

• their screen is at a comfortable angle and adjusted correctly;
• the lighting is correct; and 
• that they take regular time away from their display screen equipment.

Providing Training and Information for Using Display Screen Equipment

You are also under a legal obligation to provide your DSE users with health and safety training and information regarding their display screen equipment use. This should include requirements such as eye tests. 

When providing training, it should inform the DSE user on what risks to look out for associated with the display screen equipment use, such as:

• posture;
• adjusting equipment;
• how to arrange desk space;
• risk assessments;
• changing lighting and screens to ensure that there is no glare or reflection;
• the requirement to take time away from the display screen equipment; and
• procedures for reporting problems.

Key Takeaways

As an employer, you are under a legal duty to ensure the health, safety, and wellbeing of your workers. This includes ensuring their workstations are safe, including their display screen equipment. Also, you must provide them with time away from their workstations and an eye test where your staff require this. This could result in an obligation to provide them with glasses. 

If you need help understanding your responsibilities concerning your employees’ workstations, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

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