Posted By stephen d clarke Hi, I think the issue is that if someone has a pre-existing eye condition then working with DSE might highlight this as excessive use without breaks can cause tired eyes. Count your blink rate when using a PC it will probably be about 3-4 per minute, then count it when doing anything that doesn't require staring at a screen it will probably be about 20 blinks per minute. Similar to contacts I believe. Steve

Posted By FAH Nice start Safety Amateur. I'm sure that there are readers of these threads who have a very wide range of understanding about WHY the DSE Regs specifically require the exposed employee to be provided with suitable eye tests. Let's hope that some will contribute here. To kick this off, my standard reference document [apart from the L26 -DSE Regs] is the report from the Royal College of Opthalmic Surgeons which discusses DSE eye tests, what tests & questions should be asked and how the tests should be conducted. Over to everyone else as I don't wish to use this as a personal soapbox. Frank Hallett

Posted By David Bannister The eyetest bit in the Regs is to do with ensuring that if a persons eyesight changes so that use of DSE requires specs, then this can be identified. The assertion that DSE use does not cause permanent eye changes is, I understand, correct, given current knowledge.

Posted By CFT Hi Frank On-form as per usual which is great and a pleasure to see you back participating. Anyway my take on this, it is (IMHO) a much abused requirement, that rarely permits a company to differentiate between single vision lenses that may be required for constant DSE work and the two-yearly eyesight test that a spec wearing individual will undertake. I've heard it, I'm sure you have; that on occasions an employee will use the contribution of £75 - £100 plus test (NHS) not a DSE visual test, towards new bins and be very pleased to have had a contribution. The regulations are reasonably specific in there descriptive manner,it is the employer that frequently does not understand what the actual requirements are. Recently someone came to claim their test costs plus £100 towards lenses specific to working on DSE; when I asked why, they said "cos it's a perk innit?" "But" said I, "you wear specs for distances & the DSE report does not identify any need to wear them when working with screens" (oh to have such quality close-up eyesight) " I know but like I said I have had the contribution for ages!" And so on.... However and all things considered, I will continue with the testing for users as I just wouldn't want to compromise the duty of care I have for these individuals a per pros the DSE regulations among other things. On a personalside I have spent some time on this subject (probably for my own benefit as I wear bins for DSE use) I wanted to try to establish if any long term harm was possible; I along with 'safety' have concluded that I see little signs of evidence to suggest long term problems as long as siple instructions are followed by way of DSE assessments; I have found it to be quite temporary. Certain conditions really should be met, and an area frequently overlooked by 'assessors' is the brightness of the screen v lighting conditions v depth of field values, get that wrong and you can have users with quite significant (all be-it) temporary problems. My eyes will get worse and time goes by (for certain, along with many other users). Will the DSE use bring it on any quicker? I can't find a conclusive and definitive answer based on facts that says it will. Must dash, I have just realised I don't make a claim :_) CFT

Posted By FAH Hi again y'all Thanks for compliment CFT [it was, wasn't it?] safetyamateur. It's most unfortunate that you have misunderstood me so badly. I agree that I suggested that we start a new thread as we had done the legal issue to death and were moving into the "why" of eye correction possibly being required. I also agree with Bob Shillabeer as to the statement as quoted. I am as interested as you in expanding my knowledge on this topic. We had got to a point on the previous thread where we were discussing whether DSE use actually caused eye problems; and whether they might be permanent or temporary. My understanding is that current knowledge indicates that DSE use does not normally cause permanent problems in eyes but that temporary problems - primarily relating to eye control & focus - are created by such work. These temporary problems tend to be identified by such very personal & subjective phenomena as headaches, dry eye & similar symptoms. Some of these have been discussed already, although I must confess that I'd hoped for rather more positive conclusions. The only potentially permanent aspect of eye problems that I believe occurs is for contact lens users; & this arises because we all blink less [previously mentioned] at DSE. For contact lens users this can, I believe, cause ulcers which can sometimes permanently scar the eye surface. I shall look forward to any contribution that helps to clarify these issues. Frank Hallett