Hi all Has anyone had experience of applying DSE to retail shop tills? The situation is a normal shop environment where the till operator, sometimes manager, is up and down serving customers and tapping into DSE, then during quiet periods moving stock around or potentially spending longer periods on the DSE. The screens are pretty standard - normally touch for sales, and keyboard also. Operators normally would stand and so we need to look at the ergonomics of this. The big question is the chair - due to the evolution of the job most aren't DSE-standard. Looking at L26 it's clear that most users are in the 'Maybe' category, but also that the Regs only apply to a component present in the workplace and needed for health, safety or welfare. This is a common scenario, so there's probably no need for me to re-invent the wheel - any guidance on approaches taken would be gratefully received, esp. in relation to the 2 main bits of the law: providing information to users, and carrying out an assessment. Many thanks Kevin

Thanks Brian - that's useful. However, here's the section: (4) Nothing in these Regulations shall apply to or in relation to– ...(e)calculators, cash registers or any equipment having a small data or measurement display required for direct use of the equipment; or Modern tills are becoming more like 'normal DSE', and less like a Tesco-type 'dumb' cash register - you can also do your emails, surf the net etc. etc. this is where I'm finding the line is less easy to draw

I just received an email from one of my shops stating; "The till screen faces a window, i.e. till operators have their back to the window, and on a fairly bright day like today the screen reflects a lot of light, which makes it tricky for me to read it but for the staff and volunteers with poor eyesight it is a real eye strain". My immediate thoughts also went to the staff carrying out a DSE assessment. I read L26, page 11, para 20 where it outlines the workstation exceptions eg: Cash Registers. So whilst it may not be covered under the DSE regs, I do believe that L26 can be used to provide common sense advice to shop staff to help manage any issues.

Given L26 (second edition) is thirteen years old there is a miss-match between the technology envisaged within the publication and that which is currently available - the exemption for cash registers and the like sets out to describe the small mono display physically built in to the device. Most modern customer interaction points have moved on relying on multicoloured / multiline computer interfaces connected to a cash drawer, card reader and printer. Glare on screens is a matter that should be considered but for the actual device interface time (often short with alternating activies taking place) does the use warrant assessment?

Why faff about 'risk assessing' under whichever bit of legislation? Just fix the problem. (or more precisely, discuss with manager how THEY intend to fix the problem).

Spot on Sad lass - we get obsessed these days with wanting things covered by this bit or that bit of legislation - just do what reasonably practicable to fix a problem.

I thought as a manger it was thier role to faff about and then do nothing because if they can get to winter they will not have the sun coming through the window and it will give them six months of avoiding doing something else safety related.