What's So Exciting About DSE Training

Well, to be honest, DSE training is about as exciting as it sounds. However, it is a very important part of office life and absolutely vital for the health and welfare of staff and the health and welfare of company funds to ensure they avoid costly compensation claims from employees that are off work sick.

DSE training may seem to set out a simple set of instructions but visit any office and you will see staff not keeping to them. We get distracted, or heavily involved in work and before you know it we are slouching in our seats, feat are perched at all different levels and the stress and pressures of work take over until we ling ourselves into our chairs and get our heads down to work.

Not long after we fall into this pattern we are complaining of back ache, headache, arm ache, shoulder ache, eye strain and all manner of things that are actually avoidable if we just took a few moments to remember our DSE training rules.

These include, most importantly, getting the seating right. This is the one thing that will have the biggest impact on our bodies. It will affect our backs, our legs, our arms, shoulders, joints, in fact, our entire body will feel it if the seating is not right. The position should be comfortable and natural. We should not be straining to reach our desks or leaning down on our desks. Feet should be flat on the floor and if this is not possible then a foot rest should be used to bring the knees level with our hips.

Pressure on the backs of the legs can lead to all sorts of difficulties from muscle pain to trapped nerves and DSE training will specify that the seating needs to be angled correctly to avoid any of the above issues. Sitting with ankles, or even worse, sitting with legs bent underneath us, will double the pain issues that we are storing up for ourselves and a lack of breaks from these same positions could even lead to deep vein thrombosis which is a life threatening condition.

It is also important that we do not have to excessively reach for the computer mouse when working. This is a major cause of shoulder and elbow strain. Using a keyboard wrist support is also a god idea to avoid repetitive strain injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome - a very painful affliction of the wrist.

To have monitors set at angles when you are constantly using them is a bad idea and is frowned on by DES training specialists. It will lead to nerve problems and muscle strains and aches in the neck and shoulders.
VDU's should always be placed face on with the top of the monitor ideally being at eye level to keep the neck at the optimum angle for long periods of work.

These may seem like simple, obvious instructions but as we have already seen, it is easy to get sidetracked into doing other stuff and not give a thought to your posture. However, when you consider that lack of attention to your DSE training leads to more problems than aching muscles you may want to think again. Poor posture restricts breathing and leads to bad blood circulation and poor function of all internal organs as well as fluid retention. This is all storing up health problems for the future and is so easily avoided with a few minutes thought daily to the way we are positioned at our work station.

Shaun Parker is a leading health and safety expert with many years of experience in the training industry. Find out more about DSE training at http://www.complywise.co.uk