Irish employers are obliged to provide eye tests for staff who use computers for more than 1 hour a day. Yet there is no evidence that this is being applied, according to the National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI), who is calling on the Health & Safety Authority to prioritise the issue and on employees to request their entitlements to an eye test in 2005.

“A recent study in Japan found that using computers for significant periods of time could be harmful for your sight, and found a statistical link between heavy computer use and eye problems that presage glaucoma. Yet, despite this, Irish employers seem unaware of their responsibility to protect the eyesight of their staff by providing regular eyetests” said Des Kenny, Chief Executive of NCBI. “It is essential that this lack of awareness is addressed in a pro-active manner by all concerned, including the Health and Safety Authority.”

According to the Central Statistics Office, 95% of service and 98% of industry enterprises use computers in one way or another. No research is available on how many of these provide eyetests for staff, but anecdotal evidence suggests very few do.

According to the General Application Recommendations (IRL) 1993, employers must make available eye and eyesight tests to users of display screen equipment (DSE) who depend on the use of DSE to do their job and normally use DSE for continuous spells of an hour or more at a time. Where corrective appliances have been prescribed specifically for DSE use, the employer may wish to set a fixed amount as a contribution towards the cost.

NCBI encourages all people who use computer screens or visual display units to take regular breaks from using these screens, and recommends that everyone should get their eyes examined at least every two years, since the signs and symptoms of some eye conditions are not very noticeable and may need to be identified and dealt with as early as possible.