Assessment Options
Standard DSE Assessment. A qualified assessor evaluates the employee’s workstation setup, posture, screen position, chair height, lighting, and peripheral equipment. Adjustments that can be made immediately are implemented on the spot. A detailed report follows with further recommendations for equipment or furniture changes.
Home Worker Assessment. Employees working from home are covered by the same DSE regulations as those in the office. We assess the home workspace via video consultation or face-to-face visit, documenting the setup and recommending practical improvements. This is particularly important for employees reporting neck, back, or eye strain, symptoms that often trace back to a kitchen table and a laptop.
Complex or Clinical Referral. For employees with existing MSK conditions, disabilities, or specific clinical needs, we provide a more detailed ergonomic assessment with input from our physiotherapy or Occupational Health teams. The recommendations address both the workstation and the underlying health condition, ensuring the workspace supports recovery and does not exacerbate the problem.
The Hybrid Working Challenge
Before 2020, DSE assessment was relatively straightforward, you assessed the office workstation. Now, a single employee might work from an office desk on Mondays, a hot desk on Tuesdays, and a home setup on Wednesdays through Fridays. Each environment needs assessing, and the recommendations need to be practical across all of them.
We help employers develop a DSE strategy that covers this complexity without creating an administrative nightmare. Self-assessment questionnaires for low-risk environments, video assessments for home workers, and face-to-face assessments for complex cases or employees reporting symptoms. A proportionate, risk-based approach that meets your legal obligations without over-engineering the process.
Remote and Home Worker Statistics
The shift to home and hybrid working has created a new population of DSE users whose workstations may never have been formally assessed. Research from post-pandemic surveys indicates that a substantial proportion of home workers report musculoskeletal symptoms, neck pain, back pain, shoulder tension, eye strain, linked to inadequate workstation setups.
Many home workers are using kitchen tables, sofas, and improvised desk arrangements that would fail a formal DSE assessment. The longer these arrangements persist, the more likely they are to cause chronic symptoms and eventual absence.
Our home worker assessment programme addresses this systematically. A video-based assessment identifies the most significant risks, recommends practical improvements, and documents the assessment for your compliance records. The investment is modest. The protection it provides, both for the employee’s health and for your legal position, is substantial.
What You Receive
Individual assessment reports. Detailed findings for each employee assessed, including current risks, adjustments made, and equipment recommendations. These reports are your compliance documentation, evidence that you’ve fulfilled your DSE obligations for each assessed employee.
Cost-effective recommendations. We recommend solutions proportionate to the risk. Not every employee needs a £400 ergonomic chair. Sometimes a monitor riser and a posture conversation is all it takes. Our assessors focus on practical, affordable interventions that address the actual problem.
Integration with OH. If an assessment reveals an underlying health issue, persistent headaches that might indicate a vision problem, shoulder pain that needs physiotherapy, wrist symptoms consistent with carpal tunnel. The referral into our SEQOHS-accredited Occupational Health or physiotherapy pathway is direct.
Scaled Delivery for Large Workforces
For employers with hundreds of screen users, individual face-to-face assessments for everyone may not be practical or necessary. We offer a tiered model: self-assessment questionnaires completed by all employees, reviewed by a qualified assessor, who then triages those needing a full individual assessment. This is cost-efficient and ensures the employees at greatest risk are prioritised for detailed evaluation.
The self-assessment tool is designed to capture the information an assessor needs to identify problems remotely. Employees who report symptoms, have known conditions, or whose responses indicate a poor workstation setup are escalated for a full assessment. Employees with adequate setups and no symptoms are documented as assessed with no further action required.
What This Means for Your Business
The cost of a DSE assessment programme is negligible. The cost of the problems it prevents, chronic MSK conditions, increased absence, personal injury claims, and HSE enforcement, is not. For employers with home and hybrid workers, the regulatory obligation now extends beyond the office, and the reputational risk of an employee developing a condition from an unassessed home workstation is growing.
