Display Screen (VDU) Hazards

Display Screen Equipment Hazards

University of Sheffield and UMIST conducted a stress survey on call centre workers for Health & Safety Executive (HSE) entitled “Psychosocial risk factors in call centres: An evaluation of work design and well-being”. 

As well as the stress factors involved in handling calls an exploratory study also pinpointed a range of other hazards that could also risk both the psychological and the physical well-being of call centre employees. These included display screen equipment, and call waiting information displays. Potential hazards specific to vocal and optical health were also highlighted.

The study found that the understanding of good practice in relation to DSE, not only amongst frontline call handlers but also by managers and health and safety advisors, was sometimes very limited.

NHS Healthy Scotland and Visual Stress

NHS Healthy Scotland has a leaflet on Visual Stress available on the link below. In fact they have gone as far as to introduce this leaflet for potential sufferers to take to an optometrist (usually called an Orthoptist in Scotland) for an eye check to determine which colour overlay is the most effective.

NHS Healthy Scotland, Visual Stress Leaflet

The leaflet states: Some people experience Visual Stress (referred to in the leaflet as Meares Irlen Syndrome, or MIS) symptoms after reading for a short time: others find that it takes longer for the symptoms to occur. The severity of symptoms also varies from person to person, the more marked the symptoms, the greater the barrier to successful reading. It is more common in children and adults with specific learning difficulties but it is thought to exist in a surprisingly large number of normal readers.

In both groups, the symptoms of Visual Stress can prevent an individual reaching their maximum potential in education/ occupation.

Information also taken from NHS Healthy Scotland