Posted By Richie H Hi All, I am wondering how many of you deal with the issue of DSE Assessments in the 'Hot Desking' environment. Many of our office based workforce are constantly moving locations and it is obviously unreasonable to carry out a new assessment at each location (we dont have the resources). I am aware that if they were all trained to carry out a self assessment using the vdu checklist this would be sufficient iaw the regs, highlighting their issues should any arise etc... and then carry out a specific risk assessment for them. I believe we are wasting much of our resources on this issue, and please dont get me wrong i do believe dse / workstations to be a serious H&S concern. I am seeking to find more efficient ways we can deal with this situation without continuously carrying out dse assessments each time an employee moves their workplace? I am sure call centres and other large companies have good procedures to deal with such issues - can anyone advise? Cheers, Richie

Posted By Calum Clark I would suggest that you assess the workstations in terms of making sure things are up to standard and can be suitably adjusted. Then train employees in how to set up the workstation for their own needs. You might want to do a few 'on the spot' assesssments and advise people to begin with until they get into the way of adjusting the workstation each time they move desks. Hope this helps Calum

Posted By Richie H Thanks all comments are very helpful, it seems as i anticipated i have to go down the road of providing training to enable them to self assess. Fornhelper, I like the idea of the power point presentation, a copy would be greatly appreciated if you dont mind. Mint could you forward me the supplier details for the mouse mats if possible? Thanks again to you all for your constructive and helpful comments. Cheers, Richie

Posted By Ron Hunter A link to http://www.ergoergo.info/index.html on each of your P.C. desktops might be useful.

Posted By Ashley Williams DSE Reg's REG 2 comment Shared workstations Where users share workstations, such as in shift working areas or where 'hot desking' is in operation, the guidance requires the workstation to be analysed and assessed for all of those who use it and are users or operators, as defined. It is particularly important that equipment, such as chairs, provided to meet the particular needs of a specific user are readily available to that user at whichever workstation they are using. Or acording to L26 working with display screen equipment Where one workstation is used by more than one worker, whether simultaneously or in shifts, it should be analysed and assessed in relation to all those covered by the DSE Regulations. For example if a very tall and a very short worker are sharing a workstation, the assessor should check the chair has a wide enough range of adjustment to accommodate both of them, and that a footrest is available when required. This is saying you still have to actually do the assessment not just issue a piece of paper and get them to do it themselves? Ash

Posted By Cathy Ricketts We use lots of hot desking and remote working - we use an online training and assessment programme from Posturite. We blind assess hot desks but where an individual has a particular issue ie height, weight, disability then they have an individual assessment which applies to where they are working. Sometimes they have supports which they carry with them if they are working at a number of different venues. Other desks are speficially designated for certain individuals and where booking a hot desk they book a specific desk. Self assessment is done every other year unless someone reports a problem, develops an occupational health condition, or changes venue where they work