Workstation safety

Kevin Bridges - Pinsent Masons
Online advisor - 5 posts

Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (the HSWA) places a general duty on an employer to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of all employees, subject to a defence of so far as is reasonably practicable,. This duty requires employees to be provided with safe working equipment and adequate training as to the safe use of such equipment.

Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states that undertake a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to employees health and safety whilst at work.

In addition, in a work environment where PCs are used the employer must comply with the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 (the DSE Regulations).

Schedule 1 of the DSE Regulations sets out the minimum requirements for all workstations that must be complied with. This includes the following:

- the screen must swivel and tilt easily and freely to suit the needs of the operator or user

- the keyboard shall be tiltable and separate from the screen so as to allow the user to find a comfortable working position avoiding fatigue in the arms or hands

- the workstation shall be dimensioned and designed so as to provide sufficient space for the user to change position and vary movements.

The gist of these requirements is that each user shall be able to adjust a workstation according to their individual characteristics and requirements.

In addition, Regulation 2 states

"(1) Every employer shall perform a suitable and sufficient analysis of those workstations which ?

(a) (regardless of who has provided them) are used for the purposes of his undertaking by users; or

(b) have been provided by him and are used for the purposes of his undertaking by operators,

for the purpose of assessing the health and safety risks to which those persons are exposed in consequence of that use".

Having performed this assessment, the employer must reduce the identified risks "to the lowest extent reasonably practicable". The DSE Regulations are likely to apply as the definition of 'user' in Regulation 1 is "an employee who habitually uses display screen equipment as a significant part of his normal work". Guidance to the DSE Regulations helps clarify how often and for how long an employee must be using a visual display unit (a VDU) such as a PC before they become a 'user'. For example, if an employee uses a VDU for continuous or near continuous spells of an hour or more they will be deemed a 'user' for the purposes of the DSE Regulations.



Where one workstation is shared by more than one user, it should be assessed in relation to all those covered by the DSE Regulations.

The most certain way to avoid a breach of the DSE Regulations would be to provide each employee with a separate data PC in addition to their personal PCs and ensure that every workstation is tailored to the exact requirements of the user. Regulation 6 requires employers to provide training to ensure workstations are adjusted to the health and safety needs of each employee, and as long as this requirement is met, then the duty will be discharged.

If this option is not reasonably practicable it is vital to remember that every workstation must comply with the requirements of Schedule 1 and must be assessed in light of the users. This is an absolute duty.

Therefore, the shared workstation should be assessed to ensure it is capable of complying with Schedule 1 and the users should be given specific training on how to adjust the data PCs according to their personal requirements each and every time they use the workstations so that they comply with the requirements in the Schedule.

The revised Guidance to the DSE Regulations sets out a useful VDU workstation checklist at Appendix 5 that can be used in respect of the shared workstation to ensure that it can be adjusted to comply with Schedule 1 for each of the users.

Kevin Bridges Dip2.OSH, MIOSH

Associate

Regulatory Unit, Litigation

Osborne Clarke

2 Temple Back East, Temple Quay, Bristol, BS1 6EG

DX 7818 Bristol

direct dial: 0117 917 4044

direct fax: 0117 917 4045

mobile: 07730731089

The material contained in this document is provided for general guidance only and is not intended to constitute legal or other professional advice or to have any legal status. Appropriate legal advice should be sought on specific issues. No reliance should be placed or action taken on the contents of this document on its own.