---
title: "Home Office and DSE Assessment Checklist | Desk Blossom"
description: "A free home office ergonomic checklist adapted from the HSE DSE checklist and OSHA’s eTool: score each area, get a fix for every no, print it or save it."
url: https://deskblossom.me/desk-setup-checklist/
---

DSE assessment checklist

# Home office ergonomic checklist

Work through 29 quick questions about your chair, desk, keyboard, mouse, screen, laptop, room and breaks. Every “No” gives you a fix, each area gets a score, and your answers are saved in this browser so you can come back to them. The questions are our own wording of the points in the UK Health and Safety Executive’s DSE workstation checklist and OSHA’s Computer Workstations eTool. In the UK, employers must assess the workstations of staff who use screens daily, including long-term and hybrid home workers; this checklist helps you prepare, but it doesn’t replace your employer’s assessment.

## How the checklist works

Answer each question for the way you actually work today, not the way the desk could be set up. Each area’s score is the share of its questions you answered Yes, out of those you answered Yes or No; “Doesn’t apply” is left out, so someone without a laptop isn’t marked down. Every No adds a fix to the list beside the checklist, in the order the questions appear. The score is a way to see where to start, not a pass mark or a certificate.

Your answers are saved in your browser’s local storage on this device as you go, so you can close the page and come back. Nothing is sent anywhere. Print gives a clean copy of the questions, your answers and your fixes, for you or for whoever does your workstation assessment; Clear answers removes them.

For the numbers behind the fixes, use the [desk and chair height calculator](https://deskblossom.me/), the [monitor distance calculator](https://deskblossom.me/monitor-distance-calculator/) and the [laptop stand calculator](https://deskblossom.me/laptop-ergonomics/).

## UK employers’ DSE duties for home workers

The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 apply to workers who use display screen equipment daily, for continuous periods of an hour or more; the HSE calls them DSE users. As of 5 November 2026, the HSE’s guidance (DSE pages updated 20 March 2025) says employers must, for DSE users:

- carry out a DSE workstation assessment;
- reduce the risks, including making sure users take breaks from DSE work or change activity;
- provide an eye test if a user asks for one, and pay for basic glasses if the test shows they are needed specifically for screen work;
- provide training and information.

**Working from home.** The HSE’s home-working guidance says the regulations can apply to people who work at home permanently or long-term, and to hybrid workers who routinely split their time between the workplace and home. They don’t apply to people who use screens at home only occasionally or for short periods. Employers should carry out a DSE assessment for each worker; a home visit usually isn’t needed, and workers can do a self-assessment if they have been trained to, for example in how to use a checklist. Where someone works both at home and in the office, the assessment should cover both. If the assessment shows equipment is needed, the HSE says workers can’t be charged for it.

The HSE’s brief guide adds that you only have to write the assessment down if you have five or more employees, though it is useful anyway, and that it should be reviewed when equipment, furniture, the work or the workstation changes significantly. Eye tests are not an entitlement for the self-employed, and employers are not responsible for breaks for the self-employed.

Outside the UK the rules differ. In the US, OSHA’s Computer Workstations eTool, which these questions also draw on, sets out good practice for employers and workers alike.

### A chair or desk at a surprising price?

If your fixes include a new chair or a standing desk, take care with unfamiliar shops advertised on social media with prices that look too good. Before you pay, check how long the shop’s domain has existed with WebTraceCheck’s [free DNS and domain lookup](https://webtracecheck.com/dns-lookup): a very new domain is one warning sign, though an older one isn’t proof a shop is genuine. You can also open the link in WebTraceCheck’s [disposable cloud browser](https://webtracecheck.com/), which runs on a remote desktop that is deleted after the session, rather than on your own computer.

## Common mistakes

- **Answering for the ideal day.** If the laptop lives on the sofa three days a week, answer for the sofa.
- **Fixing the chair last.** Your seat height sets everything else; start there, then the desk, then the screen.
- **Buying before adjusting.** Many fixes cost nothing: a cushion, a box under your feet, books under the screen, a lamp moved to the side.
- **Ignoring the room.** The HSE checklist covers light, heat, air and noise as well as furniture. It notes that equipment can dry the air and that plants may help; if you add a desk plant, our sister site [Sunny Sill](https://sunnysill.homes/) keeps track of watering.
- **Putting up with pain.** The last question is there for a reason: the HSE’s checklist ends by asking about discomfort, and the NHS says to see a GP if symptoms such as pain, tingling or numbness are not going away or are getting worse.

**General information, not legal or medical advice.** This checklist paraphrases public guidance to help you set up your workstation. For your legal duties as an employer, read the HSE’s guidance in full or take competent advice; for pain, see a GP, physiotherapist or occupational health service.

## Sources

All checked on 5 November 2026.

- Health and Safety Executive (HSE): [Display screen equipment (DSE) workstation checklist](https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/ck1.pdf) (CK1, web version published May 2013) and [Working with display screen equipment (DSE): a brief guide](https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg36.pdf) (INDG36 rev4, 2013).
- HSE web guidance: [Display screen equipment (DSE) workstations](https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/index.htm), [Eye tests for DSE users](https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/eye-tests.htm), [Work routine and breaks](https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/work-routine.htm) and [Good posture when using DSE](https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/good-posture.htm) (all updated 20 March 2025), and [Working from home: DSE](https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/home-working.htm).
- Legislation: [The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/2792/contents) (SI 1992/2792), as amended in 2002.
- OSHA Computer Workstations eTool: [Evaluation checklist](https://www.osha.gov/etools/computer-workstations/checklists/evaluation).
- NHS: [Repetitive strain injury (RSI)](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/repetitive-strain-injury-rsi/) (reviewed 28 May 2026).

## Questions

**What is a DSE assessment?**

A check of a screen user’s workstation, the furniture, equipment, environment and work routine, to find and reduce risks. UK employers must carry one out for workers who use screens daily for an hour or more at a time.

**Do employers have to assess home workers?**

In the UK, yes for people who work at home permanently, long-term or routinely as hybrid workers, according to the HSE. Not for people who use a screen at home only occasionally or for short periods.

**Can I do my own DSE assessment?**

The HSE says workers can complete a self-assessment if they have had suitable training, such as how to use a checklist. Your employer still has to act on what it finds.

**Who pays for eye tests for screen users?**

In the UK the employer, when a DSE user asks for a test. The employer also pays for a basic pair of glasses if the test shows they are needed specifically for screen work, but not if your normal glasses are fine.

**Where are my checklist answers saved?**

Only in your browser’s local storage on this device, under the name deskblossom-checklist. They are never sent anywhere. Use Clear answers, or clear this site’s data in your browser, to remove them.