5 Dec 2017
New figures from Specsavers
Corporate Eyecare suggest there is a lack compliance with the Health and Safety
Display Screen Equipment regulations. While the research, undertaken among over
500 senior decision makers from UK companies, shows a willingness towards
providing DSE eyecare, it reveals a little as 10% of employers are fully
complying with the regulations.
New figures from Specsavers
Corporate Eyecare suggest there is a lack compliance with the Health and Safety
Display Screen Equipment regulations. While the research, undertaken among over
500 senior decision makers from UK companies, shows a willingness towards
providing DSE eyecare, it reveals a little as 10% of employers are fully
complying with the regulations.
The regulations state that employers
must provide all screen users with tests and glasses, if required solely for
DSE use. However, more than a third of employers (39%) do not provide any
eyecare at all for screen users. Almost a third, (30%) provide eye tests for
all, but not glasses. 14% provide eye tests for some and 7% provide the full
requirements – eyecare and glasses – but only for some screen users. This means that 61% of employers are at least
providing some level of eyecare, but just 10% are fully complying with the
regulations.
The research shows that employers
on average class around 68% of their employees as screen users. This falls to a
minimum of 55% in Wales and reaches a maximum of 77% in Yorkshire and
Humberside. Screen users are at the lowest (42% of employees) in the food and
drink industry, and the percentage of screen users is at its highest in the
media, at 94%. With, on average, only 10% of these employees receiving eyecare
fully compliant with the DSE regulations, a great many people are potentially missing
out significantly.
Jim Lythgow, director of
strategic alliances for Specsavers Corporate Eyecare, said: ‘The good news is
that there is an overall willingness to provide eyecare but this is not to the
extent as required by law. We believe there are two vital elements in increasing
the number of employers complying with the DSE regulations: the first is to
ensure they are educated about the full requirements of the legislation; the
second is to make DSE eyecare as simple and cost effective as possible to
procure.’
Specsavers Corporate Eyecare
has worked hard to raise the profile of the DSE eyecare. Its website includes a
knowledge bank for employers and useful tools, like downloadable posters, to communicate
benefits to employees. With simplicity being the key to eyecare procurement,
Specsavers has created an online eyecare management system, where employers can
purchase, distribute and manage eyecare eVouchers with just a few clicks of a
button.
To
view the online resources, find out more information, or purchase eyecare
eVouchers visit www.specsavers.co.uk/corporate
More
information on the Health and Safety (display screen equipment) Regulations can
be found at www.hse.gov.uk
Specsavers Corporate Eyecare
Website
T: 0115 933 0800
Cirrus House
10 Experian Way
NG2 1EP
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
United Kingdom
Employers have
responsibilities to employees regarding all ‘at work’ activities. With the
summer finally seeming to have started in earnest, Specsavers Corporate Eyecare
is encouraging employers to consider eye care as part of their sun protection
policy.
89%
of employees value eye care, but employers spend less time communicating it
than other benefits
New
research from Specsavers Corporate Eyecare shows how employers and employees value
eye care as an employee benefit.
Specsavers Corporate
Eyecare has held two health and wellbeing fairs for one of its customers,
Registers of Scotland.
Registers of
Scotland is the non-ministerial government department responsible for compiling
and maintaining 18 public registers. These relate to land, property, and other
legal documents. Specsavers provides enhanced eyecare for the public-sector
organisation’s screen users and works with the organisation to promote the
wider benefits of eyecare to employees.