Setting up your Computer Workstation: Display Screen Equipment (DSE) Notes for Training and Risk Assessment Guidelines

Transcription

1 Setting up your Computer Workstation: Display Screen Equipment (DSE) Notes for Training and Risk Assessment Guidelines

2 Setting up your Workstation: Display Screen Equipment (DSE) Training and Risk Assessment The School has a legal requirement to ensure that any staff member using a computer workstation receives adequate Health and Safety training in the use of DSE equipment. We have purchased the ComplyWise online Training and Risk Assessment package for all computer users. All employees who use a computer workstation as part of their normal working day are required to complete the online training and risk assessment. The risk assessment should be done annually or whenever you move to a new workstation, to ensure that your work environment always meets current health and safety guidelines. As SOAS has a duty of care to its employees, you will receive reminders at intervals until you have completed the DSE Training and Risk Assessment. Setting up your Workstation (DSE) Training The training course covers: maintaining a comfortable and correct seating position, the best way to set up computer equipment, and ways of managing your own health, in accordance with Health and Safety legislation and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidelines. To access ComplyWise DSE Training, type the URL below into your internet browser or simply click on this link. Log on to the training, using your full SOAS address. The password is currently set as passw0rd. You should change this password to a more secure one as soon as possible. This will bring you to a screen which has been partially completed with your name, department, your organisation level, and your address.

3 You will need to fill in your telephone number and your line manager s name and address. (Your line manager will normally be the person who conducts your staff development & review or your Head of Department.) Please ensure that you complete these carefully, so that the auto- system can advise your line manager when s/he needs to respond to concerns you may raise following your assessment. The system links you with your line manager by matching what you have typed with data already downloaded and if you type your manager s name incorrectly it will not be able to match up. Whenever you repeat the risk assessment please ensure that all details on the Personnel details screen (including line manager) are still correct. When you have submitted all the information you will come to this page. Here you will be able to click on the course tab to view the course, see a summary of your training and risk assessment and be able to edit your password. To access the training click on the launch button to the right of the screen. The training consists of three 5-minute modules: Posture This section goes into appropriate detail about how to achieve a correct seating position. Computer Equipment This section discusses the display screen set-up including relative position and angle of screen, brightness, room lighting and desk position. It goes on to cover keyboard positioning and the appropriate equipment layouts

4 Health Management This section covers the importance of eye care and gives details of DSE related eye tests. The course concludes with a multiple choice review to confirm understanding of the training. You will need to score 70% on this short test to allow you to move on to the DSE Risk Assessment of your computer workstation. If you do not achieve 70% or more you will have to repeat the training DSE Risk Assessment The Risk Assessment is conducted through an interactive questionnaire. You will progress through the risk assessment checklist and where your response indicates a problem, the system registers a Concern. Note: Please make a written note of any Concerns as you go along, since the system does not give you a free text box to give details at the time. At the end of the assessment there is a Comments box which should be used to provide details of Concern items (e.g. the system may record for you a general Concern regarding lighting but it will be up to you to provide the specifics of the lighting problem). The system does not allow you to go back and review which items you marked as Concerns.

5 When you have completed the Risk Assessment a screen appears, asking you to click on the Comments button if you wish to add any comments regarding Concerns which have been registered during the assessment. Please use this facility to give specific details relevant to your own workstation for each item which has been marked as a Concern. If you suffer from any discomfort in your neck, shoulders or wrists related to your DSE work or have any special needs, please also enter this information in the Comments section. Your results are saved to the ComplyWise system and after completing the Risk Assessment you are given an opportunity to review all the items marked as Concerns. You should be able to resolve most issues yourself with the guidance given in the online Help and, if so, your concern will be logged in the system as User Resolved. A note will appear on the screen advising you to print out the prepared checklist reminder of items you have agreed to resolve yourself.

6 This reminder also contains a contact table for the SOAS support services which are available. You will also be sent this reminder as an . Your Training and Risk Assessment Record After completing the Risk Assessment, if you are still unable to resolve your Concern, an will be sent to your line manager, recording the Unresolved Concern. Although your line manager will receive this reminder, it is up to you to be responsible for your own health and safety and you should contact your line manager as soon as possible to discuss further action. If you wish to access your DSE Training and Assessment record at any time (for example to amend the status of an Unresolved Concern ) use the link to go back into the ComplyWise DSE system. This time when the summary page appears click on Risk Assessment tab.

7 Then click on the Risk Assessments with unresolved concerns link at the bottom of the next page to take you to the report of your DSE Risk Assessment. In the example shown, at least one of the Concerns could be self resolved by the online Help. The to your line manager in respect of your Unresolved Concerns contains a link to this record and directs your line manager to review and resolve your Concerns as soon as possible. The instructions in the attached Appendix Manager s Responsibilities for DSE Users provide guidance to line managers. You should discuss your Unresolved Concerns with your line manager and your line manager should record progress and outcomes on your record. Your line manager will also have to complete the training and risk assessment before s/he can access your record.

8 Appendix: Manager s Responsibilities for Computer (DSE) Users The Manager s Role The School has chosen a web-based training and risk assessment package for computer / Display Screen Equipment (DSE) users to help implement its overall statutory responsibility for the health, safety and welfare of all employees. The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations require employers to minimise the risks in DSE work by ensuring that the workplace and job are well designed. In practice this means the following: ensuring that computer workstations meet minimum requirements ensuring that action is taken to reduce any risks identified from a workstation assessment planning work so that there are regular breaks or changes in activity on request, arranging eye tests and providing glasses for DSE work providing health and safety training for employees As a manager you are primarily responsible for ensuring that your staff undertake the training and workstation assessment and that appropriate action is taken to deal with any unresolved issues that are raised. Accessing Staff Member s Record with an Unresolved Concern Before you can access any of your staff records, you must first complete your own DSE Training and Risk Assessment, in accordance with instructions given on pages 1 to 5 of this guide. If you have not already done so please go to to complete your own training and assessment. When a member of your staff completes the Risk Assessment for DSE Users you will receive an alert if there are any Unresolved Concerns. This contains a link to your staff member s DSE Training and Risk Assessment record and will take you to the ComplyWise login page. Sign in as before; you will initially see your own Personal Details screen. Press Submit and you will be taken to the Summary page.

9 By default the Summary page shows only the user activities which have been completed within the last seven days. If your staff members have completed their risk assessments within this time, this will be noted on this page, showing that a DSE risk assessment has been completed with unresolved concerns. Click on the Reports tab to be taken to these user names. If a risk assessment was completed prior to the last seven days there will be no results shown on the Summary page. To find the risk assessments of your users which have been completed previously you must first click on the Reports tab and adjust the start and end dates using the calendar buttons to produce the list of users. Once you are on the Reports page, click on the user name to be taken directly to that user s Risk Assessment(s). Please discuss issues directly with the member of staff and refer to the online help to provide further guidance or alternative contacts to resolve issues. It is expected that many of the actions will be directly undertaken by the member of staff. Your role, therefore, is to ensure that actions are followed through and issues resolved where possible or risks minimised. On the following page is the main screen that highlights the areas of concern raised on a completed DSE Risk Assessment. Your user s details will be shown in the top half of the screen and the risk assessment results are shown below. For the purposes of this example, we have only shown the risk assessment results.

10 In the example shown, responsibility for resolving two of the Concerns was undertaken by the user via the post risk assessment review page. The user would have received an confirming that s/he has taken responsibility to resolve this risk. It is important to record Concern resolutions you make as a Manager and the system does this, albeit in a less than optimum user-friendly way. In this example the Manager has resolved the Concern concerning laptop accessories. The employee has given details of the Concern under User comments. When the Manager clicks on Resolve a box appears and the Manager types in a comment and then clicks on Resolve Concern. The Concern is now noted as Resolved by the Manager. All Concern Resolutions made by the Manager should be confirmed to the staff member by . Once you have clicked the Resolve Concern button, your Comment is saved into the system and when you click on Build & edit the Comment is automatically copied into it. You may also edit this by adding your own further text.

11 When an is built following a Concern Resolution the (which will appear in the staff member s Inbox as From: healthandsafety.soas.ac.uk) shows the employee s name in the To: box with a footer noting that you are in fact the sender of the . To ensure a copy for your records, please ensure that you add your own address in the To: box, separated by a, (comma) from the user s name. If you would also like Health and Safety to be copied in, simply add their mail address, again separated by a comma.

12 It is not always possible to resolve a Concern immediately. You will be contacted by the Health and Safety Officer only when a Concern has remained unresolved for an unreasonable length of time and no action appears to have been taken by you or your staff member. It is therefore important that you document progress on any Unresolved Concern using the system s ability to record comments and build s. If you want to return directly to any staff member s records at a later date, the easiest way is to retain the with the direct link to their individual record so that you can always go directly to their record. Alternatively, you can access records as described above. Have you managed to get a rucksack with two straps? You will see under the heading General Employer Comments that there is a box for the Manager to add comments regarding ongoing progress or queries. These comments are visible to both you and the user once saved. Your comments can also be copied and inserted if you build a further to document or request action. Note: Please ensure you copy any comments you wish to include within the before you press the Save comment button, as the comment will disappear from the box, insert itself under the Concerns section and cannot then be copied. When you click on the Build & edit button you can paste your comments into the body of the . Remember also to add yourself to the as noted on page iii.

13 Concern Resolution For ease of reference here is a reminder of what to do to resolve the following typical Concerns from a staff member: Request to buy a new chair All staff should be provided with a standard chair with an adjustable back. Broken chairs or those with a rigid back should be replaced. The cost of a standard chair will be met by your budget holder and should be ordered by the line manager via the Supplies department. In some cases a more ergonomic chair may be required on health and safety grounds, i.e. where an employee has a known medical condition such as arthritis or a back injury. In those circumstances advice should be sought from the Equality and Diversity Advisor ( dv4@soas.ac.uk). The Health & Safety Officer may also consider it appropriate to refer the member of staff to the Physio at Work service. Request for specialist equipment Should the assessment identify the need for specialist equipment (e.g. ergonomic mouse or keyboard, voice recognition software) because the employee has, or develops, a disability, advice should be sought from the Equality and Diversity Advisor ( dv4@soas.ac.uk). In some cases it may be appropriate to obtain funding from the Access to Work scheme run by Job Centre Plus and this will be organised by the Equality and Diversity Advisor. Request for office sundries, footrests and screen filters Requests for office sundries such as document holders or mouse mats should be dealt with locally in the usual way through a stationery order. The cost of these will be met by your budget holder. Queries concerning air quality/temperature These should be referred to the Estates Department through the job request system: in the first instance to investigate any faults in the air conditioning/ventilation system. In case of an emergency where there is a serious risk to health, the Health & Safety Advisor should be contacted immediately. Queries concerning noise levels These should be referred to the Health & Safety Officer for investigation. Queries concerning lighting If additional task lighting is required this should be ordered locally through your budget holder. For any queries concerning this guidance or the ComplyWise DSE Training and Risk Assessment for LSHTM, please contact Heidi Alderton healthandsafety@soas.ac.uk. February 2010