The Safety, Health, and Welfare at Work Act 2005 requires that all hazards in a workplace be identified, risk assessed, and that adequate control measures be put in place. This also applies to employees’ workstations, offices, etc. Where an employee is sitting at a desk and working on a computer the law states that the workstation should be assessed and where necessary adapted to fit the worker. The term used is ergonomics, and the process is called a VDU assessment (visual display unit, ie, laptop, computer, etc ). The aim of the VDU assessment is to identify and subsequently reduce the amount of strain put on the body and eliminate visual and musculoskeletal stress and damage.
Western Management Centre runs a one day course to train individuals as VDU assessors. The course provides participants with the knowledge, skills, and key techniques to carry out VDU and ergonomics assessments in the workplace. Ideally the participant should have good verbal and written communication skills plus good observation skills.
Western Management Centre will also send its own VDU assessor into an organization to carry out the assessments if required. Other safety and health courses offered by the centre include Safe Pass, manual handling, manual handling instructor course (including the refresher course ), occupational first aid, people moving and handling course, and fork truck certification.
For full details on all courses contact the centre at 091 528777 or email [email protected].
