Posted By Tom Maycock Ivor See Display Screen Equipment work - guidance on regulations L26 page 5. Regards Tom

Posted By John Ridd Interpreting the wording used in the Regs (habitually, significant, normal) has always been a problem and as suggested in the above posts, there are criteria that can be used, but the companies that I have worked with have all interpreted these issues differently and (quite reasonably) to suit their manner of working. 'At the end of the day' you have to operate a system that is workable within your organisation; the options that I usually put to Companies are: 1. spend time categorising staff as per the criteria; but you will have to go around doing it again and again (perhaps every 1 month, 2 months - whatever is reasonable)in case people's usage alters; this is very bureaucratic and can be devisive (particularly if workers within the same office/dept are categorised differently). 2. categorise everyone who has DSE on their desk as a 'user'(and even those that don't, if they are regular users)- this is administratively much easier although possibly a little more costly - but the benefits, in my view, far outweigh the disadvantages. (And certainly, the vast majority of workers, for the foreseeable future, will only be increasing their use of a computer.) Best of luck, JR

Posted By Laurie I have never had any real problems using the guidance in the Guidance L 26, Page 10 "Application of User Criteria". Simply add a blank line at the bottom for your own use if the job you are assessing is not listed, and then assess by analogy I refused a sight test last week using this table (the first one I have ever had to turn down, incidentally) Laurie

Posted By Robert Woods Leeds Occupational Health Project produces an excellent booklet on the safe use of VDUs. Under the section what the law requires it says; the law is applicable in full to users, which are defined in the regulations. If you can answer yes to any of the following criteria then you should certainly qualify as a user, Do you often use a VDU for periods of an hour or more? Do you use a VDU every day or most days? I have NO discretion on whether I use a VDU. My job could not be done without a VDU. The ability to use a VDU is an important part of my job description/recruitment specification. The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 1(2)d: "user" means an employee who habitually uses display screen equipment as a significant part of his normal work The same definition is used in the Approved Codes of Practice [ACOPs]. Hope this helps.