Display screen equipment means any alphanumeric or graphic display screen, whatever the display process involved. The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 apply where an employee is a user, meaning someone who habitually uses DSE as a significant part of their normal work. The harms are musculoskeletal disorders, visual fatigue and stress, and they build slowly, which is why the duty is preventive rather than reactive.
What regulation 2 actually requires
A suitable and sufficient analysis of the workstations used by users, whoever provided them, to assess the health and safety risks the use creates. The assessment must be reviewed if there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid or there has been a significant change, and the risks it identifies must be reduced to the lowest extent reasonably practicable.
Who counts as a user
The test is habitual use as a significant part of normal work, and it does not depend on a fixed number of hours. Someone using a screen for an hour continuously every day is more likely to be a user than someone using one for four hours once a month. The duty follows the person rather than the desk, which is why it applies to home working on equipment the employer never supplied.
What the workstation analysis covers
The screen, its height, clarity and glare. The keyboard and mouse, and whether they are separable and positioned so wrists are neutral. The chair, its adjustment and whether the person knows how to adjust it. The desk, its depth and the space under it. The lighting, reflections and the position relative to windows. Software usability. And the work itself, because the pattern of the day matters more than any single item of furniture.
Breaks, eye tests and equipment
Users are entitled to short frequent breaks or changes of activity rather than one long break, and the regulations put the employer under a duty to plan the work that way. On request, an employer must provide an eye and eyesight test, and must pay for basic corrective appliances where the test shows they are needed specifically for DSE work. Training and information about the risks and the controls also has to be provided.
Repetitive strain, and what actually prevents it
Upper limb disorders come from sustained awkward postures, repetition without variation, and force, made worse by pressure and by a workstation the person cannot adjust. Buying a specialist mouse is the intervention people reach for first and it is rarely the one that works. Varying the task, correcting posture, and making sure the person knows how to adjust their own chair and screen do more, and cost less.
Questions people ask about what is display screen equipment
What is display screen equipment?
Any alphanumeric or graphic display screen, whatever the display process. It includes laptops, tablets and touchscreens as well as desktop monitors.
Who is a DSE user?
An employee who habitually uses display screen equipment as a significant part of their normal work. There is no fixed hourly threshold in the regulations.
Does the employer have to pay for glasses?
The employer must provide an eye and eyesight test on request, and must pay for a basic corrective appliance where the test shows one is needed specifically for the DSE work.
Do the DSE regulations apply to home working?
Yes, where the person is a user. The duty attaches to the person's work rather than to who owns the desk.