Posted By anon1234 In my view, self assessment supported by appropriate guidance is perfectly acceptable as the starting point, followed by additional input from trained assessors and other specialists as appropriate if any concerns are raised.

Posted By AlisonSM Declan Technically according to the DSE Regs, the person should be "compentent" but some packages claim to provide training during the self assessment to allow the person to become compentent. Thing is, in my experience, people either don't read the information provided or don't actually follow it so a visual check at the person's workstation ensures not only that the equipment provided is working properly, but that the person knows how to work it!! You can get them to complete the self assessment and then quickly go through what they have said. If there are lots of staff, probably an idea to train up some DSE assessors who are responsible for an area with either specialist input from yourself (if you feel confident) or from an external source when there are cases where the assessor isn't sure what advice to provide (or specialist equipment is necessary). A lot of companies do this as it can be expensive to bring in an external contractor to conduct all the assessments.

Posted By Bob Shillabeer Noted this one as I am interested due to an office relocation in the near future which will mean everyone having a new workstation which will need to be assessed. Having recognised that everyone will move on the same day (or a day or so later) the task of doing that number of assessments would be huge. I therefore sought a way of doing them much easier and quicker. Doing this I found an organisation that provides a system to 'train' every one and includes a system to undertake an assessment and record how and when they are completed. This system requires the workstation holder to undertake a self assessment and record it within an electronic system that has overview by a nominated responsible person. The process contains a training pack which takes about half a day and looks quite useful. Will advise if it works.

Posted By Kieran J Duignan Declan Stimulated by observations of others, I reread your question and noted that you wrote about 'the employers obligation to individually assess each workstation'. Actually, the employer's responsibility is to assess the risk of using DSE, which is a much larger issue than individually assessing each workstation and its apparent compatibility for the task and user. One of the relevant tools, not yet as widely known as it should, is a short screening questionnaire called 'Workscreen' which has been validated for assessing vulnerability of people for working in office and other environments; I have no commercial interest in this instrument and can simply say that its technical validation is impressive. This is an example of assessment that is relevant to risk but doesn't focus directly on the workstation but on the user.

Posted By Pete48 Hi Declan, I agree with your outline of what is usually done. I think there is a level at which it is reasonable to allow that a reasonable person can complete an adequate self assessment based on some very basic training. In my experience it is far more likely that they will err towards an over-cautious report rather than skim over and miss things. If you are concerned why not put a sample check into your system? Say 5% or 10% of all DSE self-assessments are re-checked with the employee by you or another competent person. You would have to determine the actual % based on your circumstances. I note that you may work in Eire? I guess that your regs require much the same as UK ones but just in case not, my comments are based on UK experience. By the way, has anyone else noticed that some of the worst office/workstation layouts and set ups are those of senior staff or is it just me? I had one the other day who sat there and said "It doesn't matter because I am never going to sue the company, I have been using this chair for 20 years and I don't have any problems". He got up as I was leaving and, as he did so, groaned loudly about his bad back--Doh!

Posted By GeoffB4 Dave, oddly I feel the same way about asbestos surveys and the emotive way companies advertise their services.

Posted By willhiem dave your post made me curious, has a computer ever killed anyone? so i got the help of good ole tom google to find this article (below), in the end it was the software that did it but its an interesting read. (yes, its friday and i thought it might get me up to 17:00 but it hasnt!!!) http://www.ccnr.org/fatal_dose.html

Posted By Donk Got me interested now. Please Dave could you point me in the direction to confirm the 40 prosecutions in the last 5 years. Kindest regards Donk