Posted By Nigel Hammond
A member of staff has it in writing from her otition that she needs a new pair of glasses specifically for close-up work AND for viewing DSE.

I'm confused. The Guidance to the Regs says that 'special corrective appliances' are those prescribed to correct vision defects at the viewing distance specifically for DSE work.

Can optitions prescribe 1 pair of glasses for both distances? should we pay for them?

Please help!!

Posted By Bob Youel

Ther are two questions here.
1 = DSE regs.
2 = Other areas / regs.
The DSE regs are quite easy to manage.

The work the employees is claiming for is not DES work but falls under general H&S etc and the question is similar to the one re: Do we supply glasses to machine tool operators, welders, designers etc and others who do close work over a period of time and this colse work has contributed to sight loss etc?

As an example we supply [none PPE]glasses to our joiners re close / fine work as sight fails over time. The question re DSE regs does not come into it.

The question to answer is; does the work contribute to the loss of sight or is it simply old age etc. If it can be argued that it is a mix of both then management has some duty towards paying some part of the costs.
Noting that if accuracy is needed it may be an investment.

If it can be demonstrated that the sight loss etc is not work related but simply personal to the worker then management has no duty to supply.

Note the areas /steps re R4 MHSW - A proper ergonomic assessment can answer many questions. Either way the decision can open up a can of worms.

Posted By Ken Taylor
To come back on Bob's point above, the DSE Regs require employers to provide spectacles at reasonable cost if needed by users where normal spectacles cannot be used irrespective of whether vision deterioration has resulted from work. I would suggest that part of the intention of this legislation is to avoid vision deterioration from DSE use.

Posted By Geoff Burt
Bob

Does close up work causes lack of sight?

I wasn't aware of that, could you point me in the direction of some information/research that would confirm the point?

Geoff

Posted By Jack
I think the question is would the 'close vision' spectacles also be suitable for vdu use. If so the employee does not need a 'special corrective appliance' and the employer would not need to provide them. If they were not the employer would need to provide them for the vdu distance.

Some of the responses have been on the lines of provide them anyway; in some large organisations with over 10000 users, say,
that can be costly. And anyway why should just the vdu users benefit from an employers generosity, why not machine operators, people who read paper documents, drivers?

I'm not sure I agree with Ken's point (ie 'I would suggest that part of the intention of this legislation is to avoid vision deterioration from DSE use'). The HSC view is: 'There is no reliable evidence that work with DSE causes any permanent damage to eyes or eyesight, but it may make users with pre-existing vision defects more aware of them'.

I'm inclined to think the original Directive was driven by politics rather than rational h&s considerations.

Posted By Ken Taylor
To be fair, Jack, the British College of Optometrists also say in the same paragraph that 'because of their visually demanding nature, VDUs may precipitate symptoms such as headaches, blurred vision, etc caused by a problem in the eye which has not been apparent when the employee has been carrying out other work'. There is certainly a wide-spread opinion that continual looking at display screens, close TV monitors and the like leads to eyesight deterioration even if this is regarded as precipitating the process of age-related deterioration and I would contend that this may well have been in the minds of those framing the original directive.

The decisions to be taken by the employer as to whether to pay the reasonable cost of properly prescribed glasses for the DSE user are: whether they are 'special' or 'normal'. In the case in question we do not know for sure whether they are normal reading glasses that happen to also be suitable for DSE use but it is notable that the optician has taken the trouble to state in writing to the employer that they are also for DSE use - something not normally done when normal reading glasses are prescribed. For some people it is possible to amend the prescription for what would have been that for reading glasses in order to enable them to see their DSE screens in focus and still read all but the very small print (ie a type of compromise). I suspect that this is the case here. My inclination would have been to pay, however, another approach could be to go back to the optician for better clarification. I certainly wouldn't reject the request on the available information and finish up with another disgruntled employee and possible resultant health effects.

Posted By Craig Newby
Nigel

We have come across this problem in our workplace. We were finding that people were going for DSE eye tests and returning with bi-focal lenses. We have now changed our policy on this to stipulate that only single lense glasses can be claimed for under DSE. One of the main reasons being, that if you watch a computer operator using bi focal lenses they either tilt their head up or down. This has led to some neck and shoulder complaints.

Posted By Ken Taylor
I'm with you regarding the bifocals, Craig and have been advising users against them for this (and some other reasons) for years. This is one instance where I am not entirely happy with the HSE guidance (Paras 82 & 83 of L26). I would rather swap glasses as and when necessary than get neck ache.

Posted By Craig Newby
The whole idea of introducing a policy Geoff is to protect all, even those that may not have a problem. The increased risk of ill health effects from using bi-focals at a workstation were backed up by an ergonomics expert we contacted via IOSH. It's good to know that you don't personally have any problems with using bi focals but I know from experience that there are people out there that do.