A well‑designed Display Screen Equipment (DSE) setup isn’t just a box‑ticking exercise—it’s a legal requirement and a cornerstone of keeping people healthy, comfortable, and productive at work. The UK’s Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 set out clear duties for employers and expectations for workers, and understanding them helps prevent avoidable discomfort and long‑term health issues.
The DSE Regulations apply to anyone who uses a screen for an hour or more as part of their normal work. These workers are classed as DSE users. Employers must:
These duties apply whether someone works in an office, hybrid, or from home.
Prolonged screen use can lead to a range of health issues if workstations aren’t set up correctly. While the risks are often low, they become significant when poor posture, unsuitable equipment, or long periods without breaks are involved.
A good DSE setup helps:
DSE‑related problems typically develop gradually, which is why early reporting and proper assessments are so important. Key issues include:
These conditions can be prevented or significantly reduced with proper workstation design and regular review.
Workers have a responsibility to report discomfort, pain, or any issues with their workstation as soon as they arise. The regulations expect users to:
Speaking up isn’t complaining—it’s essential for preventing minor discomfort from becoming a long‑term health problem.
A DSE assessment must be carried out:
Assessments should look at:
Where risks are identified, employers must take action—whether that’s adjusting equipment, providing accessories, or changing work routines.
A strong DSE culture is built on:
This isn’t just about compliance—it’s about valuing people’s health and ensuring they can work comfortably and effectively.
Take a look at the infographic below to offer guidance.
Contact us if you require a DSE assessment or would like further information.
H&S
Health and safety isn’t just the responsibility of managers, consultants, or directors. For it to work effectively, everyone needs a basic level of understanding, supported by clear, accessible health and safety documentation on the premises.
Policies and procedures only protect people if they are understood, available, and followed. Without this, even the best-written systems quickly become ineffective.
The Importance of Basic Health and Safety Awareness
A basic understanding of health and safety enables employees to:
When people understand why rules exist — not just what they are — compliance improves, risks reduce, and safety becomes part of everyday working life rather than an afterthought.
The Role of Health and Safety Documentation
Health and safety documentation provides the framework that supports safe working. This may include:
Having these documents available on the premises ensures employees can refer to them when needed and confirms that the organisation has clearly communicated expectations.
Documentation should never sit unseen in a filing cabinet or digital folder. It must be accessible, relevant, and practical.
Training: Turning Paper Into Practice
Training bridges the gap between written procedures and real-world behaviour.
Effective health and safety training:
Training should be proportionate to the role and risks involved. Inductions, toolbox talks, and refresher sessions are all valuable ways of ensuring employees remain informed and competent.
Without training, documentation becomes meaningless. Without documentation, training lacks consistency.
Maintaining and Reviewing Health and Safety Documents
Health and safety documentation must be kept up to date.
This includes:
Regular review ensures documents remain accurate, legally compliant, and aligned with how work is actually carried out.
Everyone on Board With a Common Goal
Health and safety works best when everyone shares the same objective: keeping people safe.
This means:
When health and safety is seen as a shared responsibility rather than a burden, it becomes part of the company culture. This shared commitment leads to better communication, fewer incidents, and a safer workplace overall.
Legal Duties and Responsibilities
UK legislation makes it clear that employers must provide information, instruction, training, and supervision to protect health and safety.
Key legislation includes:
Employees also have duties to:
Accessible documentation and basic understanding support everyone in meeting these legal obligations.
The Benefits of Getting It Right
Organisations that prioritise health and safety understanding and documentation benefit from:
Ultimately, good health and safety management protects people — and that protection relies on knowledge, communication, and consistency.
Final Thoughts
Health and safety doesn’t need to be complicated, but it does need to be clear, understood, and accessible.
Providing employees with a basic level of health and safety knowledge, supported by well-maintained documentation on the premises, enables them to work safely, confidently, and in line with company policies and procedures.
When everyone understands their role and works towards a common goal, health and safety becomes not just a requirement — but a strength.
To find out more about your roles and responsibilities, click here.
Contact us if you require further information.
Guest Blogging
If you feel that you could contribute to this blog then please feel free to send me a proposal of your guest blogging ideas and we can discuss these further info@walkersafety.co.uk . Please note any proposals must be of benefit to our readers from individuals with knowledge of their subject matter.
People escape to fire exit door
How long should it take to evacuate your premises in the event of a fire?
Fire safety practitioners are often asked, particularly after a fire drill, how long it should take to evacuate the premises.
What, on the face of it, appears to be a simple question has quite a complex answer, particularly in view of the UK’s risk-based fire safety regime.
Those responsible for fire safety need to know what would be deemed to be a safe evacuation time and the factors that influence this.
Legislation, such as the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRFSO), does not prescribe any evacuation times. Rather, the RRFSO states that “in the event of danger, it must be possible for persons to evacuate the premises as quickly and as safely as possible”.
The reason for this is that, unlike fire certification arrangements under the old regime, where each certificate was building specific, the RRFSO applies to a wide range of buildings, therefore making it impossible to prescribe evacuation times.
Guidance to the RRFSO does contain further information on evacuation times. For example, guidance for office environments notes that “escape routes in a building should be designed so that people can escape quickly enough to ensure they are not placed in any danger from fire”.
The key phrase here is “should be designed”. This clearly indicates that designers of buildings need to consider the design of the means of escape as part of the overall design of the property so that occupants can move to a place of reasonable and/or total safety before the conditions in the property become untenable.
Certainly, designers should be following the requirements of the respective Building Regulations and associated guidance such as that contained in Approved Document B: Fire safety, BS9999:2017 Fire Safety in the Design, Management and Use of Buildings and BS ISO 20414:2020 Fire Safety Engineering. Verification and Validation Protocol for Building Fire Evacuation Models.
It is key that the fire safety practitioner responsible for fire evacuation in a property as occupied has access to and can share necessary information in relation to the design of the means of escape are provided.
Although this information will not provide an exact evacuation time, it will enable:
This information is particularly important given the current emphasis on the “golden thread” of information approach for buildings that is recommended following a review into the Grenfell fire.
Human behaviour
It is widely recognised that up to two-thirds of actual evacuation time consists of occupants delaying when the evacuation signal is given.
These factors are built into what are known as the:
For safe evacuation to occur, the ASET must be significantly longer than the RSET. There are a number of factors that will affect the RSET and ASET. These include the time:
In theory the fire safety practitioner should be able to rely on the RSET and ASET and be confident that the evacuation time will be within this scope.
However, there are many factors that may affect the RSET and ASET in “real world” conditions, not least:
If occupants are unable to evacuate in a timely manner this could result in a breach of relevant fire safety legislation and increase the risk of injury or death.
PAS 79-1:2020 Fire Risk Assessment. Premises Other Than Housing. Code of Practice, notes that “an assessment should be made of the likely consequences of fire”.
The assessment should “understand that all persons within the premises should be able to reach a place of ultimate safety before life threatening conditions arise; either unaided or with the assistance of staff — without FRS assistance (RSET versus ASET)”.
In assessing this aspect, the fire risk assessor may consider a number of inputs into the process including:
These could then be used to determine (usually in a qualitative manner) whether the ASET/RSET requirements are being met or whether real-life evacuation takes longer, creating a situation where occupants may be at risk of harm.
As workloads shift with the seasons, so do the risks we face. Now is a perfect time to reinforce safe manual handling practices and prevent musculoskeletal injuries across your team.
Whether you’re lifting, shifting, pushing, pulling, or simply standing for long hours—strains and sprains are the most common workplace injury in the UK. The good news? They’re also among the most preventable.
🤕 The Cost of “Just a Twinge”
We’ve all heard it: “It’s just a sore back—I’ll shake it off.” But injuries like:
Many of these injuries result from poor lifting techniques, rushing tasks, or using the wrong equipment.
🛠️ 5 Manual Handling Tips to Share with Your Team
📋 Don’t Forget: Employer & Employee Responsibilities
Under the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, employers must:
Employees must:
✅ What Can You Do This Week?
👀 Remember: Good habits save backs, joints and time.
Small changes in how we lift, carry, and move can make a huge difference in injury prevention. Let’s keep sprains and strains off the sick list this summer.
Here is a toolbox talk to provide to staff – Click here Toolbox_Talk_Manual_Handling.
Contact us for further information.
April marks Stress Awareness Month a time dedicated to raising awareness about the causes and effects of stress, and more importantly, how we can take steps to manage it in our daily lives. Whether it stems from work pressures, personal challenges, or simply the fast pace of modern life, stress can take a serious toll on our wellbeing if left unchecked.
In this blog, I will be looking at the small changes we can make that will have a big difference on both our mental and physical health, and some practical strategies we can all use to reduce its effects both at work and at home.
Contact us for further information.
