The purpose of the amendment is to bring the legislation into line with technological changes that have occurred since the original text of the regulation was adopted (it has not been amended at all since it was issued in 1998). Here are the most important changes introduced by the amendment:

• the definition of a workstation has been updated by tidying it up and removing items of equipment that are no longer commonly used (such as a floppy disk drive or trackball); a 'workstation' will now be understood as a workspace including:
  • basic equipment, i.e. a screen monitor, keyboard, mouse or other input devices, software with user interface;
  • chair and table or work surface;
  • optional accessories, including disk drive, printer, scanner, document holder, footrest;

• portable systems that are not intended for use at a particular workstation (e.g. laptops) for at least half of the daily working time have been excluded from the scope of the regulation - as a result, employers will not have to apply the regulation to workstations where the use of laptops is occasional or brief;
• an obligation has been placed on employers to provide workers with sight-correcting spectacles or contact lenses if the results of an eye examination carried out as part of preventive health care show the need for their use at work (until now, the regulation only referred to spectacles);
• the annex to the regulation which specifies in detail the minimum health, safety and ergonomic standards to be met by workstations equipped with screen monitors, has been amended; in this respect, first of all, the legislator simplified some of the requirements and also provided for the possibility of organising workstations with the use of portable systems intended for use at a given workstation for at least half of the daily working time (e.g. laptops) - in such case, the workstation will have to be equipped with a stationary monitor or a stand ensuring that the screen's upper edge is placed at eye level, and with an additional keyboard and mouse.

Text of the regulation >>>.