What are the health and safety requirements for working at the computer?
Health and safety regulations quite clearly define what requirements for occupational health and safety should be met by an employer when employing employees. However, it often happens that entrepreneurs apply these regulations only to production workers (in the field of protective clothing and footwear), forgetting that office workers also have their rights. Workers working with the help of a computer are particularly vulnerable in this case. Working at a computer and long hours in front of a monitor can negatively affect the health of an employee, especially worsen his eyesight, which is why it is so important in this situation to comply with the applicable health and safety regulations.
In accordance with the Regulation of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy of 1.12.1998 on occupational health and safety at workplaces equipped with screen monitors, the provisions in this respect apply to any person employed by the employer who uses a screen monitor during work for at least half of the daily working time. Interestingly, this provision also applies to apprentices and trainees. This regulation means that if an employee spends at least 4 hours a day in front of a monitor, he can demand that the employer meet the obligations set out in the regulation.
It is the employer’s duty to organize work so that every employee after each hour of uninterrupted work at the computer has the opportunity to change the type of work to one that will not burden the eyesight or will be performed in a changed position of the body. In the event that the employer cannot provide a change at work, he must allow at least a 5-minute break every hour of work in front of the monitor screen (§ 7 of the Regulation). Such a break is included in the employee’s time and does not affect the reduction of remuneration for work.
The employer should also remember about the requirements that must be met by workplaces equipped with screen monitors. These conditions are set out in particular in the Annex to the above-mentioned Regulation and concern:
- Ergonomics of the station
- the workstation should be large enough to allow free use of all manually operated elements at your fingertips,
- the distance between the monitors should be 60 cm, and between the employee and the back of another adjacent monitor – 80 cm,
- the distance between the employee and the monitor should be from 40 cm to 75 cm,
- for each employee there should be 2 m2 of free floor space and 13 m2 of room volume, without limitation furniture, equipment, etc.,
- the screen monitor should meet certain requirements: the characters on the screen should be clear and legible, and the image should be stable, the screen should be covered with an anti-reflection layer or equipped with an appropriate filter, etc.,
- the computer keyboard should be set min. 10 cm from the edge of the table and should be a separate element of the basic equipment of the workplace, its surface should be matte, and contrast and legible signs,
- all the necessary devices needed to work at the computer should be within the reach of the employee, without forcing him to change his position.
- Dimensions and table setting
- the height of the table should allow for a free position of the worker, in which when working at the computer between the shoulder and forearm, a right angle is maintained,
- the height of the table on which the screen monitor is located should be able to allow an appropriate angle of observation of the monitor screen in the range of 20 to 50° downwards (counting from the horizontal line at the worker’s eye level to the line drawn from his eyes to the centre of the screen), the upper edge of the monitor screen not being above the worker’s eyes,
- the knees of the employee sitting at the table should not touch the tabletop, the space under the table should be free,
- the surface of the table top should be matte, preferably light in color.
- The chair as an element of the workplace at the screen monitor
- it should be stable with a minimum 5-support base, on wheels with the possibility of 360° rotation around the vertical axis,
- the dimensions of the backrest and seat should ensure a comfortable body position and freedom of movement,
- adjustable seat height in the range of 40 to 50 cm, counting from the floor,
- with the possibility of adjusting the height of the backrest and adjusting the inclination of the backrest in the range of 5° forward and 30° backward,
- the seat and backrest should be contoured in a way suitable for the natural bending of the spine and the femoral segment of the legs,
- it should be equipped with armrests,
- at the request of the employee, as well as when the height of the chair prevents the employee from flat, resting feet on the floor, the workplace should be equipped with a footrest.
Source: https://poradnikprzedsiebiorcy.pl/-praca-przy-komputerze-wymagania-bhp0
Projekt otrzymał dofinansowanie z Norwegii poprzez Fundusze Norweskie 2014-2021, w ramach programu „Dialog społeczny – godna praca”.