This is a question we are often asked by all sizes of businesses and the approach we suggest will differ dependant on the business size. A key to a successful approach to DSE is to ensure both training and assessment needs are covered.

For larger businesses (200+ employees) we have to help the business to source and implement bespoke on-line packages. We have found these can very successfully deal with the training and initial assessment process and help the businesses focus their efforts to follow up where concerns are raised. These systems provide some excellent management tools for recording results, following up and providing records for compliance.

For businesses fewer than 200 employees the costs of these systems can often seem to be prohibitive and then alternative approaches need to be considered. Our advice to clients would usually be:

1. To train a small number of internal staff to undertake the initial assessments and to use a CD-ROM to deal with the training side. This is then supported by calling in expert advice when more detailed assessments are required.
2. To use an on-line system to deal with small numbers of assessments; these will typically not provide the management data the bespoke systems will but will deal with both training and initial assessment.
3. A more costly approach can be to bring in external help to undertake the assessments; these though must deal with both training and assessment in order to provide a valid DSE approach. Beware bringing in consultants that use a tick box approach to assessments without providing training will provide you with a poor quality service.
4. For cases where problems are identified then always find a competent specialist who can complete a detailed ergonomic assessment and provide realistic practical advice on how to best overcome the problems found.

Clearly there are a number of approaches available to your business and if you are unsure of what’s the best approach to take then why not drop us an e mail as we would be happy to provide advice.