Has the HSE produced any guidance for the use of DSE at a stand up desk? (Office desk that can be altered in height to allow the user to stand while working) We have a site in Zurich and all the guys there have desks which can be altered in height electrically by the user. Alot of staff want to stand up while using DSE. Finding some guidance on the subject would be helpful.

The HSE has not produced any guidance on use of standing desks and to be honest it is unlikely that they ever will. Why? That’s because such desks are unlikely to create the sort of problems that lead to the need for DSE regs in the first place. Cast your mind back 20 odd years to when the first PCs arriving in offices and were being supplied to any and all staff not just the secretarial types. The PC would be plonked on to a desk with no thought as to whether it was suitable for that person or for whatever task they were doing. Similarly the chairs, were any old cheap rubbish that they could find(nothing which was height adjustable or with an adjustable back support) . Problems seeing the screen? Well you just had to squint and get on with it. Eventually something had to be done and so the DSE regs emerged. Working with fully height adjustable desks gives the users full control of their work space which is what large part of DSE is about, so it is unlikely that there will be guidance for such desks any time soon. The main current DSE type issue is the use of tablets and other mobile devices as substitute workstations, with people being expected to do complicated stuff one handled while standing on a train between meetings.