Computer screens

                                                                          Computer screens
One instance in which eye protection is often not carefully considered is in the use of computer screens and the effects they might have on vision. The fact that this is often overlooked is surprising, given the large numbers of employees who spend a significant proportion of their working lives in front of computer screens. The ACTU released a set of detailed guidelines for any work involving screen-based equipment in 1998. The guidelines claimed that visual problems including fatigue and problems with contact lenses were one of the main hazards associated with the use computers. The guide suggests employers should limit the total time employees spent doing screen-based work and the length of continuous periods at such work, so that 'employees are not required to spend more than half their ordinary hours of work on any day performing screen-based work'. In the case of workers who do concentrated work in front of computer terminals, the guide recommends taking regular breaks of at least 15 minutes in every hour. Sue Pennicuik, OHS unit co-ordinator for the ACTU, told Australian Safety that she recently came across information about protective glasses for people working at computer screen. 'Of course, the ACTU's view is that if your eyes are that sore, you shouldn't be in front of the screen in the first place,' she says. 'It is our view that work should be reorganised, such that people are not sitting in front of computers for long enough periods so that their eyes become sore or strained. This is not a popular view, because many people think that employees should spend six or eight hours of each day in front of a computer screen,' Pennicuik says. Frank Darby, ergonomist currently working with the Victorian WorkCover Authority, did a lot of policy work on the safe use of visual display units (VDUs) when he worked in New Zealand for that country's government health and safety authority. Darby uses the phrase 'visual and ocular discomfort' to incorporate all the familiar complaints to do with eyes and computer use, including eye strain, sore eyes, dry eyes and headaches. 'The vision system comprises the eye, the muscles controlling the eye, the head that supports the eye socket, the upper parts of body supporting the head and visual processing centres in the brain. 'Visual and ocular discomfort in people using VDU screens is largely caused by looking in same direction and at the same focal point for a long time. In extreme circumstances, this creates back and muscle strain, but the immediate area of eyes is the first to be affected,' he says. Darby says that although there is little direct statistical information on the frequency of this condition, some say visual and ocular discomfort associated with computer use is very common. 'The UK Health and Safety Executive has screen regulations which say that any computer user who asks their employer for an eye test must be given one. This is because the HSE feels that absence from work from visual discomfort is common, and the costs of providing testing will outweigh by 10 to one the costs of visual discomfort developing,' he says. Dr Stephen Dain, head of the School of Optometry at the University of NSW, agrees that while there are no proven long-term effects on the eyes of using screen-based equipment, the common complaints from computer users about eye fatigue need to be effectively managed by workplaces. Dain has been involved in researching the impact of use on the eyes for years, ever since the school did the first longitudinal study in the world on the subject for Telstra (then Telecom). The study was of Telecom data-entry operators who had just started using screen-based equipment rather than standard telephone directories. Interestingly, it revealed that the change was positive for employees eye condition. 'It was a consequence of removal of something that was more demanding for the eyes.'