Guide

What UK DSE law actually requires

The rules are shorter and more sensible than their reputation suggests. Here is what they say, without the compliance industry padding.

Where the rules come from

The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, amended in 2002, sit under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. They apply across Great Britain, with near-identical rules in Northern Ireland.

“Display screen equipment” means any alphanumeric or graphic display screen, whatever the process involved. That covers desktops, laptops, tablets used for work, and screens in vehicles and control rooms. The definition is deliberately broad.

Who counts as a “DSE user”

The duties bite for users, meaning employees who habitually use DSE as a significant part of their normal work. There is no statutory hour threshold. HSE guidance points at people who:

normally use DSE for continuous spells of an hour or more;
use it more or less daily;
have to transfer information quickly to or from the screen;
need high levels of attention and concentration at the screen.

It also covers operators, meaning self-employed contractors doing the same work, and it applies wherever the work happens, including at home.

The six duties

1. Assess the workstation (regulation 2)

Employers must carry out a suitable and sufficient analysis of every workstation used by a DSE user, to assess the health and safety risks. A self-assessment completed by a trained user is an accepted way of doing this, provided the employer reviews it and acts on it.

The assessment must be reviewed when the workstation or the user changes substantially: a new desk, a move to home working, a new health condition, a pregnancy.

2. Reduce the risks (regulation 2)

Identifying a risk is not the duty. Reducing it is. An assessment that produces findings nobody acts on is worse than no assessment, because it proves you knew.

3. Meet the minimum requirements (schedule 1)

Workstations must satisfy specified minimums, including:

Screen. Clear, stable image, adjustable brightness and contrast, tilts and swivels, free of reflective glare.
Keyboard. Separate from the screen and tiltable, with space in front to rest the hands, and legible key symbols.
Desk. Large enough, low-reflectance surface, flexible arrangement of equipment, with a document holder where needed.
Chair. Stable, allowing easy movement, adjustable in seat height and backrest height and tilt, with a footrest on request.
Space. Enough to change position and vary movements.
Lighting. Satisfactory, with appropriate contrast between screen and background, and glare and reflections prevented.
Noise, heat, radiation and humidity. Kept at levels that do not distract or cause discomfort.
Software. Suitable for the task, easy to use, adapted to the user’s level, and responding at a suitable speed. Checking a user’s output or quality through the software is prohibited without their knowledge.

4. Plan work so there are breaks (regulation 4)

Employers must plan DSE work so it is periodically interrupted by breaks or changes of activity. There is no prescribed schedule. The guidance is clear that short, frequent breaks beat occasional long ones. Roughly five minutes away from the screen every hour works better than twenty minutes every three.

5. Provide eye tests (regulation 5)

On request, DSE users are entitled to an eye and eyesight test paid for by the employer, and to repeat tests at intervals. If the test shows glasses are needed specifically for the screen distance, rather than a general prescription, the employer must pay for a basic pair.

6. Train and inform (regulations 6 and 7)

Users must have health and safety training before starting DSE work, and again whenever the workstation is substantially modified. They must also be given information about the assessment, the measures taken, and their entitlement to eye tests and breaks.

Home and hybrid working

The regulations apply to homeworkers who are DSE users, exactly as they do in the office. In practice the HSE accepts that employers cannot inspect every home, which is why a well designed self-assessment, followed by action on what it finds, is the standard approach.

For people who split their week, both setups need assessing. A perfect office desk does not offset three days a week on a kitchen chair.

Pregnancy, disability and health conditions

Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, employers must carry out an individual risk assessment for a new or expectant mother, and review it as the pregnancy progresses. Under the Equality Act 2010, where a disability affects screen work, employers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments.

In both cases a generic self-assessment is a starting point, not the finish. Flag it and arrange a specialist assessment.

What happens if you don’t

The HSE can serve improvement notices and prosecute. In practice the more common cost is a personal injury claim for a work-related upper limb disorder, where having no documented assessment and no evidence of acting on one is the weakest possible position for an employer.

Keep the records. The limitation period for a personal injury claim is generally three years from the date of knowledge, which is why most employers keep DSE records for six.