Screen test part ll

User training
Employers must ensure that all users of display screen equipment (DSE) employed by them receive adequate training so they understand the risks of (DSE) work, appropriate precautions and how to use their equipment. Self-employed operators are responsible for their own training.

Although an employer does not have to provide full general training on display screen risks to agency staff working in their businesses, they must ensure that these people are provided with any necessary specific training concerning the workstation on which they are working (for example, details of software use, chair adjustment, keyboard and screen adjustment).

User training checklist
The following areas should be considered:

• risks from DSE work
• the importance of good posture and changing position
• how to adjust furniture to help avoid risks
• how to organise their workstation to avoid awkward or repeated stretching movements
• avoiding reflections and glare on the screen
• adjusting and cleaning the screen
• organising work for activity changes or breaks as necessary
• persons to contact for help and to report problems or symptoms
• how to contribute to the risk assessment of their work, e.g. by completing questionnaires and checklists

Employers whose employees work at home on computers etc, have the same range of responsibilities as they do toward users working on their premises, whether or not they have provided the workstation, including assessing the risks from the use of that workstation. The assessment needs to cover any need for extra or special training and information provision to compensate for the absence of direct day-to-day employer supervision and control of their working methods. Assessing such workstations is easily achieved by checklists completed by the users, following appropriate training.

Eye and eyesight checks
Employers have to provide users with an appropriate eye and eyesight test, when requested. This usually involves a standard sight test carried out by an optometrist and includes a test of vision and an examination of the eye. For display screen equipment users, it should also take account of the nature of their work, including the distance at which the screen is viewed.

Display screen users do not have to have tests carried out, but where they request them, employers should offer an examination by a registered ophthalmic optician or a registered medical practitioner with suitable qualifications. The purpose of these tests is to decide whether the user has any defect of sight, which requires correction when working with DSE.

Eye and eyesight tests should be carried out before a person starts work with display screen equipment. If newly recruited members of staff are to work with DSE, they should be given a test on request, even if they may have had tests carried out by a previous employer. Tests should be carried out as soon as possible after request. They should then be provided for users at regular intervals. The frequency between tests will vary for individuals, depending on factors such as age. Advice on the appropriate frequency should be sought from the optometrist or medical practitioner.

Vision screening tests
Vision screening tests are first stage tests to identify individuals with defective vision who need full sight tests. These are not designed to screen for eye defects. They can be conducted by persons with basic knowledge of the eye and its function and who can use the instruments. Test results and the need for further referral should be assessed by persons with medical, ophthalmic, nursing or paramedic skills.

If a display screen user chooses to exercise their right to a full eye and eyesight test from the outset, rather than undertaking a vision screening test, then the employer must arrange for a full test to be carried out.

Spectacles for VDU use
Where eye tests show that a display screen equipment user needs special corrective lenses in order to use the DSE safely, then the employer is obliged to bear the cost of these. This will only be the case where normal corrective lenses cannot be used. So, if a DSE user normally wears spectacles or contact lenses and can safely work using these spectacles, then the employer has no obligation towards their provision.

But, if a user needs different spectacles for working with display screen equipment or requires provision of spectacles specifically for this work, then the employer will be responsible for their provision.

Most people will not need special corrective appliances for work with display screen equipment. Normally, only around 10 per cent of a working population will require them. The employer's obligation is to meet the reasonable cost of provision of special corrective appliances, i.e. the cost of basic, standard spectacles.

Health problems linked with DSEs
Display screen equipment is associated with a range of health problems.

Most of these can be avoided or managed by straightforward changes to the workstation, the environment or the task.

Eye and vision problems
Work on display screen equipment can be visually very demanding. The more intensive the work, the more likely people are to suffer vision disorders. Symptoms include eyestrain, burning or sore eyes, headaches, migraine or nausea, irritated eyes, blurred vision, change in colour perception, tiredness and irritability and discomfort when wearing contact lenses.

Likely causes include incorrect positioning of the equipment and documents, inappropriate and/or inadequate lighting, poorly designed workstations, long periods of work at the screen, uncorrected vision defects, low humidity, poorly designed or poor quality screens and lack of adequate maintenance of equipment.

Musculo-skeletal problems
Musculo-skeletal problems associated with display screen equipment work are generally caused by poor posture, poor layout of the workstation and repetitive movements. They include problems in the back, neck, shoulders, arms and hands and include the range of problems known as work related upper limb disorders (WRULDs) and repetitive strain injury (RSI). Symptoms include: backache; neck and shoulder pain; muscle weakness; pain in fingers, wrists, arms or shoulders; tenderness; feeling of heaviness in the arms or wrists; swelling; tingling sensation at the fingertips; numbness; crackling feeling in joints; joint restriction.

Likely causes include rapid, repetitive movements, less frequent but more forceful movements, static loading (the work the muscles have to perform in order to hold the arms in a particular position), poor positioning of chair and/or desk, poor environment and workstation conditions, forcing workers to adopt bad working postures, limited range of work tasks, high productivity or speed demands, lack of adequate rest breaks.

Stress
Stress is now recognised as being suffered by many workers, particularly those performing repetitive jobs, with little control over their work. Causes of workplace stress are many and varied and there is rarely one single cause.

In display screen equipment work, the causes are likely to be a combination of poor equipment, poor software, poor workstation layout and environment and poor task design. Symptoms include: fatigue; irritability; depression; headaches; migraine; nausea; sleeplessness; menstrual disorders; accident proneness; raised blood pressure; stomach problems; ulcers.

Radiation
VDUs generate both ionising and non-ionising radiation in very low amounts. There has been widespread concern about the possible effects of radiation emissions on pregnant women, but advice from the Health and Safety Executive is that the levels emitted from VDUs are so low that they do not pose a significant risk to health.