Following Lord Young’s health and safety review, Jim Lythgow, director of strategic alliances at Specsavers Corporate Eyecare comments:

‘We welcome a sensible approach to health and safety in the office – the more obviously hazardous areas are likely to still be treated with caution - but while it may seem less risky in an everyday desk-job, health and safety measures in the office can do a lot to protect employees.

‘With increasingly long hours in front of PC screens, eyestrain and headaches can occur if eyes aren’t looked after; it’s not just instilling health and safety measures in the evidently-hazardous areas that benefits employees. A few basic health and safety procedures can do a lot to look after the health and wellbeing of staff at their desks; and these can include sitting at the correct distance from VDU screens, having the screen at the correct height, taking regular breaks from the screen.

The 1992 Health and Safety Display Screen Equipment regulations (amended 2002) also enable staff to have regular eyetests if they work with display screens. These regulations have done a lot to raise awareness of looking after the eyesight of employees working with display screens and we urge employers to remember that putting a few simple health and safety policies in place can be a huge benefit to the overall health, safety and wellbeing of their staff.’