The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992
Introduction
The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 embrace the minimum
health and safety requirements of EU Directive (90/270/EEC) for work screen equipment
(DSE).
The Regulations do not replace general obligations under the Health and Safety at
Work etc. Act 1974, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999,
the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 and the Provision and
Use at Work Regulations 1998.
Objectives of the Regulations
The objectives of the Regulations are to improve working conditions at DSE by providing
ergonomic solutions, to enable certain regular users of the equipment to obtain
eye and eyesight tests and information about hazards, risks and control measures
associated with their workstations.
Analysis of Workstation
Regulation 2 requires every employer to perform a suitable and sufficient analysis
of those workstations that are used by users or operators, to assess the health
and safety risks to which they are exposed as a consequence.
Requirements of Workstations
Regulation 3 requires that all workstations used by users or operators must meet
the requirements of the Schedule to the Regulations. The Schedule to the Regulations
lists minimum requirements for the workstation; the matters dealt with are:
- display screen
- keyboard
- work desk / surface
- work chair
- space requirements
- lighting
- reflection and glare
- noise
- heat
- radiation (but no action is necessary)
- humidity
- computer / user-operator interface
Requirements of the Regulations
There are 5 requirements of the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations
1992:
- risk assessment
- schedule compliance
- work break / activity changes
- eye and eyesight tests, corrective appliances
- training and information