GPAtlasWhat it covers
Who counts as a screen user under the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, and what the practice must do for them. How to set up a chair, screen, keyboard, mouse, laptop, two screens and a reception headset, and when the workstation assessment is repeated. Breaks, the eye test the practice pays for, working from home, and reporting aches and eye strain early.
Who it is for
Everyone in the practice who works at a screen most days: reception and care navigators, secretaries and administrators, managers, and GPs, nurses and pharmacists who consult at a desk, including those who work from home.
By the end you will be able to
- Say who counts as a screen user, and what the practice must do by law.
- Set up your chair, screen, keyboard, mouse, laptop, two screens and headset.
- Know when your workstation is assessed, and when the assessment must be repeated.
- Take breaks or changes of activity, and ask for the eye test the practice pays for.
- Work safely at home or hybrid, with the same protection as at the practice.
- Recognise early signs of upper limb, back and eye problems, and report them promptly.
Modules
- Screen work and the law
- Setting up your workstation
- Breaks, eyes and glasses
- Home working and early reporting
This course follows the law in Great Britain; Northern Ireland has matching regulations. It gives the knowledge a screen user needs. It does not replace the assessment of your own workstation, at the practice or at home.
Content mapped to the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, as amended, and HSE guidance L26 and INDG36. Law named: Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, as amended in 2002.
Sources
- Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, regulation 1: interpretation (user, operator, workstation, exclusions)
- Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, regulation 2: analysis of workstations
- Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, regulation 3: requirements for workstations (as substituted 2002)
- Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, regulation 4: daily work routine of users
- Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, regulation 5: eyes and eyesight (as amended 2002)
- Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, regulation 6: provision of training (as amended 2002)
- Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, regulation 7: provision of information
- Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, the Schedule: minimum requirements for workstations
- Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 7: general duties of employees
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 9: duty not to charge employees
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3: risk assessment (record with five or more employees)
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 14: employees' duties
- Working Time Regulations 1998, regulation 12: rest breaks
- Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013, regulation 8: occupational diseases
- Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013, regulation 2: meaning of diagnosis
- Work with display screen equipment, L26 (2nd edition, HSE, 2003): guidance on the Regulations as amended in 2002
- Working with display screen equipment (DSE): a brief guide, INDG36(rev4) (HSE, 2013)
- Display screen equipment (DSE) workstation checklist, CK1 (HSE, 2013)
- Working safely with display screen equipment: overview (HSE)
- Working safely with display screen equipment: workstations and assessment (HSE)
- Good posture when using display screen equipment, including laptop set-up (HSE)
- Working safely with display screen equipment: work routine and breaks (HSE)
- Working safely with display screen equipment: eyes and eyesight testing (HSE)
- Working safely with display screen equipment: training and information (HSE)
- Working safely with display screen equipment: pregnancy or epilepsy (HSE)
- Working with display screen equipment at home, including hybrid working (HSE)
- Managing home workers' health and safety (HSE)
- Home workers: managing your health and safety (HSE)
- Upper limb disorders: causes, symptoms and early reporting (HSE)
- Advice for workers with musculoskeletal disorders (HSE)
- Acoustic shock (HSE)
- Advice regarding call centre working practices, Local Authority Circular 94/2 (HSE and local authorities liaison committee, October 2006): headsets, hygiene, volume (archived copy)
- Home working and staying healthy, including multiple screens (Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors)
- Display Screen Equipment Policy RS08, version 6 (Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, 2024): headset where calls and data entry combine
- Display Screen Equipment policy, version 7.1 (Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust, 2025): training at induction and every three years
- Display Screen Equipment session (elearning for healthcare)
- Reportable occupational diseases: cramp of the hand or forearm (HSE, RIDDOR guidance)
- Display screen equipment (Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland)
- Display Screen Equipment Policy, version 2.1 (Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust): refresher training every three years
GPAtlas is not accredited, verified or endorsed by Skills for Health or NHS England. Acceptance of this training is at the discretion of your employer, who remains responsible for confirming it meets local requirements. Your employer may require more frequent refreshers than the guidance period; the practice's own policy applies. Some pictures and films in our courses, and the film narration, are made with AI tools. We check every one for accuracy before we publish it.