What is DSE training?
DSE stands for Display Screen Equipment — computers, laptops, tablets and similar devices. The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 require employers to assess workstations, reduce the risks they present, and provide information and training to employees who use screens regularly as a significant part of their work.
The risks are not dramatic, which is precisely why they get ignored: back and neck problems, upper limb disorders, eye strain and fatigue accumulate slowly over years at a badly set up desk. Every course on this page is advertised and delivered by an established, accredited UK training provider.
Home workstations count. The Regulations follow the user, not the building. If someone is a DSE user, their home setup falls within the duty just as the office one does — and home setups are usually worse, because nobody chose a kitchen table for ergonomics.
Hybrid working has made this the most commonly missed DSE duty. An employer with an immaculate office assessment record may have no record at all for the two days a week people work from a sofa.
Our DSE courses
Five courses across two audiences — users who need to set up their own workstation, and assessors who need to evaluate everyone else’s.
All screen users · e-learning
Start here · Online
Self-paced training for anyone who uses computers, laptops or tablets at work. Covers posture, workstation setup, screen positioning, breaks and the simple adjustments that prevent most problems. The right baseline for the whole workforce, including home and hybrid workers.
Assessing Display Screen Equipment
Staff taking on assessment duties · online
Assessment
How to carry out a compliant DSE workstation assessment, and what a defensible record of one looks like. Suits someone picking up assessment responsibility alongside an existing role rather than as a specialism.
Assessing workstations across an organisation
Assessor level
Builds the skills to assess workstations, identify risk factors and recommend proportionate control measures across a whole organisation. For the person who owns DSE compliance rather than helps with it.
CIEHF Accredited DSE Workstation Assessor
Recognised assessor credential
CIEHF accredited
Accredited by the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors. Worth the step up where you need a recognised credential rather than internal training alone — for tenders, insurers, or where assessments may be scrutinised.
HR and health & safety professionals
Practical workshop
Scenario-based and practical, aimed at those managing DSE compliance and audits across a business. Works through the awkward cases rather than the textbook ones — the shared desk, the dual-screen setup, the person who has already reported symptoms.
Which do I need? Awareness for everyone who uses a screen. One of the assessment courses for whoever carries out your workstation assessments — and someone must, because self-assessment questionnaires still need a competent person reviewing what comes back.
Unsure? Call 0808 1966 830 or make an enquiry.
What the Regulations require
Assess workstations
Employers must analyse workstations and assess the risks, then reduce them to the lowest extent reasonably practicable. Assessments should be reviewed when the setup or the user changes.
Plan work with breaks
DSE work must be planned to include breaks or changes of activity. Short frequent pauses are more effective than occasional long ones, and changing task counts as well as stopping.
Provide eye tests
DSE users are entitled to an eye and eyesight test on request, and to a contribution towards corrective appliances where these are needed specifically for screen work.
Inform and train
Users must be given information and training about the risks and the measures in place. A workstation that has been assessed but not explained to its user tends to drift back out of adjustment.
Why DSE training matters
More people, more screens
Screen work has grown while the working environment has become less controlled. Laptops on kitchen tables, second screens improvised at home and long unbroken sessions are now normal.
The damage is slow
Musculoskeletal disorders build over months and years. Nobody notices a workstation is wrong until it has already caused a problem, which is what makes assessment worth doing early.
The fixes are cheap
Most DSE problems are solved by adjusting a chair, raising a screen or adding a separate keyboard. Compared with almost any other safety intervention, the cost of getting this right is trivial.
Claims are difficult to defend
Where an employee develops an upper limb disorder and no assessment exists, there is little to argue with. Documented assessments and training are the evidence that the duty was discharged.
Who should attend
Training a team? DSE awareness suits whole-organisation rollout, since everyone who uses a screen is in scope. Assessor training usually needs only one or two people. Group delivery is priced per group rather than per person, and can be built around your own equipment and desk standards. See on-site training for groups.
DSE training — frequently asked questions
Do the DSE Regulations apply to home workers?
Yes. The duty follows the user rather than the premises, so a DSE user working from home is covered in the same way as one in the office. In practice most employers meet this with a self-assessment questionnaire reviewed by a trained assessor, which is a reasonable approach — provided someone competent actually reviews what comes back and acts on it.
Who counts as a DSE user?
Broadly, someone who uses display screen equipment daily, for continuous periods of an hour or more, as a significant part of their normal work. Occasional or short-duration use generally falls outside the definition. Where it is genuinely borderline, most employers apply the duty anyway rather than spend time arguing the point.
Does my employer have to pay for glasses?
DSE users are entitled to an eye and eyesight test on request, paid for by the employer. Where the test shows that corrective appliances are needed specifically for screen work, the employer must contribute to the cost of a basic pair. There is no requirement to fund glasses needed for general use, or to fund designer frames.
How often should DSE assessments be reviewed?
There is no fixed interval in law. Assessments should be reviewed when something changes — a new desk, new equipment, a move, a change of role, or a user reporting discomfort. Many organisations also review periodically, commonly every one to two years, as a way of catching drift that nobody has reported.
Are laptops covered by the DSE Regulations?
Yes, and they present more difficulty than desktops. A laptop forces a compromise between screen height and keyboard position, which is fine for short periods and poor for prolonged use. Where a laptop is someone’s main machine, a separate keyboard, mouse and raised screen or docking station is usually the answer.
Is a self-assessment questionnaire enough?
It can form the basis of your assessment, and for straightforward cases it is a practical approach. What it cannot do is judge itself. A trained assessor needs to review the responses, follow up anything flagged and decide what action is warranted — otherwise you have collected information rather than assessed risk.
Is DSE training a legal requirement?
The Regulations require employers to provide information and training to DSE users about the risks and the measures taken to control them. No specific course is named, but accredited training is the usual way of meeting and evidencing that duty.
Related training and guidance
Manual handling training
Risk assessment guidance
Mental health & wellbeing
Workplace health and safety
IOSH courses
All health & safety courses
On-site group training
This page is general guidance and does not replace the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 or your own risk assessment.