Ergonomic desk set-up: DSE rules, a 12-point checklist and your rights at work

What is display screen equipment (DSE)?

“Display screen equipment” is the legal term, and it is wider than a desktop monitor. The Display Screen Equipment Regulations 1992 define it as any alphanumeric or graphic display screen, regardless of the display process involved.⁷ The HSE gives PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones as examples.¹ The Regulations came into force on 1 January 1993.⁷

So a “desk set-up” in the UK sense is a workstation: the screen, keyboard, mouse, desk, chair, the space around them and the way the work is organised. The HSE assessment covers the whole workstation, including equipment, furniture and work conditions, as well as the task and any particular needs of the user.²

A word on scope. The HSE says the Regulations do not apply to workers who use DSE only occasionally or for short periods at home.⁴ They are aimed at DSE users: people who use a screen daily, in continuous periods of an hour or more. If you are outside that group, the set-up below is still sensible, but the legal duties on your employer are different.

Your rights at work and at home: the DSE Regulations

The HSE summarises what an employer must do for DSE users: assess the workstation, reduce the risks, plan work so there are breaks or changes of activity, provide an eye test if a worker asks for one, and train workers.¹ The Regulations say that employers must analyse workstations to assess the risks and reduce them to the lowest extent reasonably practicable.⁸ They also say daily work must be planned so that screen work is periodically interrupted by breaks or changes of activity.⁹

The law applies to a fixed workstation, to mobile workers, to home workers and to hot-desking.¹ A new assessment is needed when there is a new workstation, a new user or a significant change to the workstation, and when users complain of pain or discomfort.²

If you are an employee, the practical step is simple: ask your employer for a DSE workstation assessment. Arthritis UK says the same to people with back pain: ask for a workplace assessment and tell the assessor about your pain.¹⁴ For the NHS advice on back pain and sitting, see back pain from sitting.

Step 1: the chair

Start with the chair, because the desk and screen are set around you once you are seated properly. The HSE workstation checklist asks for a chair with a height adjustment and a back whose height and tilt can be adjusted, and a seat with height adjustment and castors or glides.¹¹

Then the fit, using the HSE good posture page. The seat height supports the front and back of the thighs equally. The back of the seat gives good lower back support, with a cushion if you need extra. Leave a gap of 2 to 3 cm, which is 0.79 to 1.18 in, between the front of the seat and the back of your knee.³ The HSE guide adds that a footrest may help, especially for smaller users, and that you should avoid pressure from the seat edge on the backs of your legs.¹⁰

Arthritis UK, for people working at a screen with back pain, says the chair and desk should be at the right height, your lower back should be well supported and your feet should be on the floor. If they are not, you might need a footrest.¹⁴

A word on buying: the HSE does not rank chair models. It gives criteria, such as an adjustable back and seat. For a view of what research says about back supports, see our page on the lumbar support cushion.

Step 2: desk height, keyboard and mouse

The HSE does not give a desk height in centimetres, and it does not publish a formula. It gives a rule against your own body: the keyboard just below elbow height, with the forearms about horizontal, and the mouse in line with the elbow.³¹¹ The workstation checklist asks whether the forearms are horizontal and the eyes roughly level with the top of the screen.¹¹

The desk surface should be big enough for the equipment and documents.¹¹ Make sure there is space under the desk to move your legs.¹⁰

Why there is no table of heights

Take two people, one 5 ft 10 in tall and one 5 ft 2 in. The first is 5 x 12 + 10 = 70 inches, or 70 x 2.54 = 177.8 cm. The second is 62 inches, or 157.5 cm. The HSE gives both the same instruction: keyboard just below your own elbow, screen top level with your own eyes.³ The two people’s desks can be very different, and a table of heights by body size would only hide that.

That is why this page gives no desk-height formula. None of the sources we read does, and an invented one could be wrong for you. Measure your own seated elbow height with a tape and write it down.

Step 3: screen position, laptops included

Put the top of the screen level with your eyes, about an arm’s length away, and directly in front of you.³ The screen should not directly face windows or bright lights, which helps avoid glare.¹⁰ A document holder may help avoid awkward neck and eye movements.¹⁰

A laptop cannot do both jobs. The HSE advises using a separate keyboard and mouse, and raising the screen on a stand so the display is separate from the laptop.³ Arthritis UK, on neck pain, advises keeping the keyboard and mouse comfortable relative to the screen, and asking your employer for a headset if you tend to cradle the phone on your shoulder.¹⁵

The HSE has a separate page on eyes and eyesight testing, which is the right place to ask about blurring, headaches or sore eyes at the screen.⁵ Our page on forward head posture covers the neck side of screen use.

Standing desks: how to alternate, and what the research says

The HSE has no dedicated page on sit-stand desks, and no British source we read sets a ratio of sitting to standing in minutes. What we did read is Cochrane research on how much desks that let you stand change the time you spend sitting.¹²

A 2018 Cochrane review by Shrestha and colleagues covered 34 studies and 3,397 participants. Sit-stand desks reduced sitting time at work by an average of about 100 minutes per workday in the short term, up to three months, with low-quality evidence. Over 3 to 12 months, two studies showed a reduction of about 57 minutes a day. The review found no significant difference between standing desks and sit-stand desks in reducing sitting.¹²

So the honest line is that these desks reduce sitting time in the short term, on low-quality evidence, and that we found no review showing they are better for the back. The HSE advice on moving often still stands: whether you sit or stand, 5 to 10 minutes of break an hour is better than 20 minutes every 2 hours.⁶

A second Cochrane review, by Hoe and colleagues in 2018, looked at ergonomic interventions to prevent upper limb and neck disorders in office workers. It found moderate-quality evidence that an arm support combined with an alternative mouse reduces the incidence of neck and shoulder disorders (risk ratio 0.52, 95% confidence interval 0.27 to 0.99). Fourteen of the 15 trials had a high risk of bias, and the review is about the neck and upper limb, not low back pain.¹³

A DSE checklist you can print

The HSE does not publish a 12-point checklist itself. Its checklist CK1 is organised in numbered sections for keyboard, mouse, display screen, software, furniture and environment, with questions to users at the end.¹¹ The table below puts twelve points from HSE pages in one place, with the source for each.

Go through the list once a month, and every time you change chair, desk, screen or room.

When pain at work needs an assessment or a GP

The HSE says a new assessment is needed when users complain of pain or discomfort.² Tell your employer or the person who carries out the assessment, and say where the pain is. Arthritis UK says to ask for a workplace assessment and tell the assessor about your back pain, and to take regular breaks to stretch and walk.¹⁴

A desk change does not replace medical advice. For back pain, the NHS list of warning signs, with what to do for each, is set out on our page on back pain from sitting, and gentle movement is covered in lower back exercises. For the sitting posture itself, see correct sitting posture and how to fix posture.

Frequently asked questions