Posted By Ian Stone At present we have around 1000 staff (600 teaching staff, 400 support staff), who use DSE at various times. Not many of these have workstation assessments carried out. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can tackle this? It needs to be quick and easy to use. These staff are in at various times and days. Thanks Ian

Posted By Geoff Burt Ian I'm not sure what you mean by quick and easy to use. Each assessment should take as long as it needs especially if the user is experiencing some problems. Also the assessment should be looked at as a means of offering/providing instruction at the workstation. Or are you looking for self assessment forms? Geoff

Posted By Geoff Burt This is an interesting one Ian. Does self assessment meet the requirements of the regs? Geoff

Posted By Ian Stone Once I have received the assessment Im trying to prioritise and go out and give advice and offer support.

Posted By Paul Bellis The way I aproach this problem, is to train DSE assessors in various locations. These people need to be competent in what they do , a person trained in the regulations and health effects, ergonomics etc, usually I do this in half a day the ideal person being the supervisors for each area, they will also have the resources to allocate financial resources to fix any issues that may crop up, and they will take ownership of the problems themselves. By doing it this way it splits the task up and if any alterations or moves take place in that area, the assessor can easily re-visit the assessment with out involving you, unless there is a particular issue thy require advice on!

Posted By Paul Huber I know I'm a bit late on this one but here is my contribution. I have used several methods to carry out this task ranging from buildings containing 3000 people to 15000 people spread over 23 countries. The truth is that you can never achieve 100% individual assessments; and you are not required to do so. The regulations require that a workstation analysis is carried out. If all your workstations are the same you can analyse the design, height, adjustability, etc in a single assessment. I think we need to remember what the intention of this legislation is, that is to ensure that people are provided with suitable workstations and if necessary people suffering discomfort are assisted. My current method is to announce my arrival on site and ask people to contact me if they have any problems. I then see those people (usually about 1 to 5% of the population). I also carry out a Macro overview of the site. We have lots of information on our web site which enable people to learn about the risks and assess their own needs. The key is information. If you get your purchasing and office planning right you can avoid most of the pitfalls. Another method I have seen used is something they called a Sweep where a person would spend about 5 minutes with individuals and show them how to adjust their furniture, postural advise, etc. This was incredibly effective if extremely mind numbing for the assessor especially if the people you are speaking to don't speak English. There are many ways but I always prefer to get the most for my money and focus on the small minority that suffer rather than spend endless amounts of money with people who are totally comfortable. And believe me if they are comfortable sitting in their weird positions they are not going to sit up straight just because you tell them to! The point is to raise awareness

Posted By Debbie Rose I am presently pilotting an e learning DSE training and assessment package within our work place. It is quite positive and hopefully will be continuing with it. It starts with a training package then goes onto a question and answer and then on to risk assessment. At the moment I have only got access to the management system of it but I can see and prioritse who needs individual assessments also. If you want further info let me know

Posted By john ridley Hi Ian From your description, most of these people are not "users" under the criteria laid out in the DSE Regs, so there is no requirement to do any assessment. This is a point raised by me recently and discussed at length on the forum, however, please be aware of Regulation 11 of the Workplace Regulations involving workstations and seating, but even here there is no requirement to assess. Some people will obviously respond by saying that the Management Reg's apply, but this only requires that a risk assessment is documented where there is "significant" risk. So if you do the provide a suitable workstation e.g. chair, desk, hardware/software, environment etc. then you could argue that the risk assessment was done at the design stage and "significant" risk was desinged out. The major advantage of this will be that there is no need to do individual assessments. However, to cover for people who have individual problems, can I suggest that a general email is sent to all employees instructiing them to report any issues. This will allow the ergonomic aspect of user/workstation interface still to be taken into account and addressed. This will hugely reduce the volume of assessments you have to do whislt still comply with H&S legislation, whilst saving significant costs to your organisation and still allowing you to respond to individuals with a problem. I think some people may argue against my point e.g. consultants who do DSE assessments, but if you look very carefully at all the reg's, I think my opinion will be confirmed. Another advantage is that this will also reduce the risk of any potential civil claim for breach of statutory duty. I don't charge for this by the way, unlike some of the circling sharks of consultants that use this forum as their kill zone. Good luck buddy John