Workplace
health & safety
All employers, and
the self employed, have Statutory and Common Law duties to ensure the
health, safety and welfare of their employees. Employees have a duty to
look after their own (or others affected by their work) health and
safety, and to follow training etc and use equipment etc in a safe
manner.
The Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act 1974 covers this in high level,
general wording.
The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 which
cover the use of computers, require specific Risk Assessments of users’
workstations to minimise or eliminate risks. Risk Assessments must also
be undertaken for home workstations or other forms of flexible working
(e.g. use of laptops).
The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 require work
equipment to be suitable for the purpose and that risks to the health
or safety of users are either prevented or adequately controlled
(minimised to an acceptable level). Examples of work equipment that
might cause RSI (or related problems, such as Vibration White Finger
etc) include production line equipment, power drills, strimmers,
machine cutters, staplers etc.
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