Posted By Kelvin George My wife is 5ft 1in and works for a prison. The desk she uses is not a standard desk but a "home built" job with kitchen work top. The result is that the top is too high ie higher than a regular desk. This causes her to suffer from back ache even though the prison has supplied her with a foot stool. She has approached the Health and Safety Officer and he just comments that she is provided with a foot stool so get on with it. Personally I think his attitude stinks and I want to be able to resolve this problem so that my wife gets a proper deck and doesn't suffer back ache. The prison do supply proper desks because other departments have them and I would like to know what my wife can say to resolve this before I recommend her to get a doctor's note and take 6 month's leave due to this back ache. I am somewhat suspicious of the competence of the H&S Officer because, is he not considered the competent person and therefore liable, seeing as he is in full information of the problem and has done absolutely nothing to attempt to resolve it. Would it not be in his interest to follow this up and push for a correct piece of office equipment ie A desk to be put in place. Any help would be appreciated before this forces my wife to take drastic action and become yet another employee on the sick because of somebody elses stupidity. Cheers Kelvin

Posted By TBC Kelvin Has a DSE assessment been carried out? If so - by whom and is the person carrying out the assessment competent to do so? Has your wife taken part in the assessment? If the assessment is done properly and highlighted any problems, then these must be addressed. Your wife should ask for a copy of the assessment - just in case a later claim for industrial injury occurs. I will send you direct a copy of a typical assessment form used by a H&S person. Regards

Posted By JohnMacCarthy25 Is this area her main work station. It sounds like a right bodge to me and the person who is carrying out the DSE assessment hasn't a clue. The DSE assessment should also be reassessed at regular intervals. is the height of the desk the only issue? i.e. has she sufficient space on the desk for DSE compliance. has she viewed the completed DSE assessment after all its not a top secret document and also has she viewed the actions taken by the emlloyer. Does she have a union representative she can discuss her issues with? She can always make a friendly HSE/EHO call as where there is one issue and lack of 'duty of care' there is probably others. has she questioned the H&S persons qualifications directly or indirectly via a friend etc. I think any HSE/EHO would be interested in MSD and how the risks have been measured and controlled. if all else fails ensure she receives correct medical treatment and sue the B..t..ds! for failure to comply with many regulations. A call to a friendly no win no fee might bring a smile all round. She can also use section 37 of the HASAWA 1974 as the advice given by the H&S person to be crap and seek dismissal via trade unions and others.