WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Legal Requirements
The basis for the description of a screen-based workplace is the EU Screen Equipment Directive 90/270/EWG of 1990. In Germany this is implemented by means of the Regulation on Occupational Health and Safety and the associated investigation G 37.
But also the latest amendment of the 10/23/2013 regulation does not take into account current developments. It merely provides that the relevant employee must be provided with an eye examination (sight test) and corrective eyewear, should the eye examination indicate that correction is required.
The requirements for a modern screen-based workplace is however continually changing. In the meantime, people are often working simultaneously with a second screen, an additional Notebook, or a Tablet not to mention printed documents, handwritten texts, mobile phones and many other types of necessary work equipment.
Every employer should therefore make this a priority based on his general duty of care in terms of screen-based workplaces. The minimum protection imposed by means of the Regulation on Occupational Health and Safety is no longer sufficientand up-to-date as far as this is concerned.
Small investment, big benefit
Employee illness is expensive. A lost work day costs over € 420.00*. Individual computer eyeglasses are the perfect solution for supporting employees who are working with a display screen. Stress at the screen-based workplace falls significantly and workplace incidents caused by optical stress are reduced. A decrease in downtime and increased productivity is therefore the logical result.
* Source: Federal Office of Statistics / Kuatorium Gutes Sehen e.V.
Additional Stress
Over 80 % of the working population in Germany spend the majority their work day in front of a screen. More than 90 % of people who are between 40 and 60 years of age use screen devices on a daily basis.
With more than 30 000 head and eye movements per day, your eyes, muscles and cervical spine are under stress. Constantly looking at different things, like your screen, the keyboard, and working documents requires continual maximum performance from your eyes. There are individual solutions to cater for such extraordinary stresses on the body.
People from the approximate age of 40, due to their reduced ability to focus on things that are closer in range, are particularly impacted by the potential consequences, and often need an appropriate visual aid.
The age at which people have to get their first prescription eyeglasses is constantly decreasing. Younger people are now suffering from sight problems. Early detection and support is vital.
HEALTH PROBLEMS & RISKS ON THE SCREEN & PC WORKSTATIONS
Disease symptoms* as a result of intensive screen work
Office-Eye-Syndrome: People who predominantly work in front of a PC, place their eyes as well as the rest of their body under extraordinary stress. Unless preventative measures are taken, asthenopic injuries can result.
Faulty posture resulting from varifocals
The correct sitting position at the screen-based workplace is of enormous importance. People who wear varifocals find this particularly difficult.
The head posture needs to be corrected quite often and in an unnatural manner, in order to be able to focus on the PC screen. This automatically and unconsciously leads to incorrect postures of the head and spine.
Near-sightedness from screen work
Near-sightedness as a result of close distance work on a display screen can lead to undesired longitudinal development of the eyes. Because of this anatomical change of the eyes, objects that are far away appear rather vague.
This quickly leads to excessive stress and immediately presents a significant potential danger when driving a car, for example. Regular examinations of visual performance are therefore crucial. Near-sightedness can only be corrected by means of a pair of eyeglasses with the appropriate correction. This corrects any possible weakness of the eye that may have developed over time.
Especially for PC workstations one should consider the use of special eyeglasses with low near addition, also for younger people. This relieves the stress on the eyes when working at a close distance and prevents a further increase in near-sightedness.
Premature presbyopia in young people is underestimated
Young people not only work with computers, mobile phones, or tablets during officehours, but also in their free time. The continuous focusing on a short distance places enormous demands on the eyes. There is therefore no break from this – even after a hard day’s work in front of the screen.
The eyes are unprotected to these daily stresses. The necessity for a visual aid may therefore already be evident at an early age – but we find that it is usually ignored for long periods of time.
Cornea damage from wearing smooth contact lenses
Cornea damage from wearing smooth contact lenses can be found in the most common so-called neovascularisation. The wearing of smooth contact lenses reduces the oxygen supply to the cornea. This effect is strengthened even more by means a significant reduction in blinking when performing intensive computer work. To compensate for this, the cornea forms blood vessels in an uncontrolled manner. The natural transparency of the cornea is restricted. This signifcantly hinders the natural viewing process.
LENS TECHNOLOGIY
INFIELD Infor Office: Lens design for individual working conditions
High-Tech eyewear for modern screen-based workplaces
Standard eyewear is well suited to everyday situations. This “everyday eyewear” however is a poor compromise when it comes to the screen-based workplace. The most commonly used are reading glasses and varifocals. There are better solutions for the constantly rising requirements imposed on modern display screen-based work-places: The Infor Office design allows eyewear users to enjoy the best possible performance.
Screen-based workplace eyewear with INFIELD Infor Office lens
The visual range relevant for display screen work is decisively widened and the wearer experiences optimal visual relief.
The head and spine perform fewer corrective movements in an attempt to achieve a sharp image in the working area. This then results in a significantly more related and healthier posture at the desk.
More comfort through personal workplace eyewear with individualised lens design
Eyewear with INFIELD Infor Office lenses are individually adjusted for the most commonly used working distance to the precise centimetre. In addition, the desired distance must be measured in such a manner, that the wearer can enjoy a relaxed head and body posture at the workstation. The desired working distance for this should be somewhere between 40 cm and 1.5 m.
Because of its individual design, Infor Office lenses offer an expansion of the visual range past the working distance that has been determined, the so-called “comfort zone”. The eyeglass wearer is also able to see clearly areas apart from the working distance that has been determined* (Examples 1 & 2).
* Expanded visual range / comfort zone is dependent on eyesight and the desired distance
YOUNG OFFICE KEEPS YOUR EYES FRESH
INFIELD Young Office – the workplace lens for younger people
The demands placed on our eyes have undergone significant changes in modern times. Through nature, our vision is designed to help us focus on things that are at a distance. When we do that, the muscle that is responsible for aiding focus is in a relaxed state (accommodative muscle). However, in our daily lives we are mostly confronted with things that are closer to us.
The daily use of Mobiles, Tablet and PC’s places an increased demand on the eyes. We constantly have to focus on things that are at varying closer distances to us. The accommodative muscle is subject to a constantly alternating tension. This in turn leads to fatigued and burning eyes and is sometimes also the cause of blurred vision.
A subsequent effect can also be that the eyes are forced into an undesired longitudinal development. This would generally relieve the eyes when an object is close, but at the same time leads to blurred vision when objects are far away. This near-sightedness must later be corrected by means of the appropriate eyewear.
Noticeable eye relief
In order to prevent all this from happening, the INFIELD Young Office lens is equipped with a slight near vision support in the lower area. The eyes are noticeably relieved and the negative symptoms for vision of nearby objects is minimised.
In the same way as with the INFIELD Infor Office lens, the INFIELD Young Office lens comes standard with our BlueProtect – blue filter coating.
BLUEPROTECT - BLUE FILTER COATING
Changes in working & everyday conditions for our eyes
Today almost every screen-based workplace has an LED-flatscreen. This includes laptops, Tablets, PC’s, LED TV’s and smart phones, all of which are used intensively on a daily basis. All these technical devices are operated with LED background lighting and have an unnaturally high portion of blue light. A high level of blue light has a negative influence on the human biorhythm.
BlueProtect – Standard with all “Office-Eyewear lenses”
The INFIELD BlueProtect – coating technology filters out critical short wave blue light and prevents the potential dangers. The colour perception is not affected and contrasts can be seen clearly. The benefit is clearer vision and an improved visual comfort over a period of many years.
BlueProtect including super anti-reflective & Hard coating & Clean effect
This coating combination offers even more. Wearers get a clear and fatigue-free vision, because disorders such as reflections and mirror images are clearly reduced. The lenses are more resistant against influences from the environment as well as heavy use and is especially easy to clean and maintain.
Every model in our OfficeEyewear collection is available as “Plano” design with BlueProtect Blue Filter Coating. That is eyeglasses WITHOUT optical correction but with blue filter.
