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Leaving Your Desk At Work

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Mike25 | 15:45 Fri 30th Aug 2013 | Law
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Is there a law in the UK about how many times you can leave your desk at work? I mean for health and safety reason like staring at a screen for 60minutes can't be good for you or sitting down for 8hrs a day.
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Have a look at this.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg36.pdf
Your employer should issue guidance notes-ask to see them
you have to have a break of 20 minutes if you work 6 hours and that has to be during the day.

other than that, its h&S advice and best practice to take a break from the screen every so often and to move about, but a walk to the loo would be classed as a break
It says:
Timing and length of changes in activity or breaks for DSE use is not set down in law and arrangements will vary depending on a particular situation.
The normal laws also apply about a minimum break of 20 minutes a day on longer shifts
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20minutes every 6 hrs isn't much. I thought it was more like 5 minutes every hour.
It's EU law that you take a break every so often. Employers are legally required to meet with staff to discuss and agree on breaks, (which include changes of activity). With my former company, this meant a break of 10 minutes in every hour. Here's the EU Directive...

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31990L0270:EN:HTML
There's a difference between how long you should focus on the computer screen at any one time and taking breaks. Stopping focussing on the screen can mean simply doing a different job at your desk for short periods.
20 mins a day is the minimum. Most employers give longer and most allow toilet breaks or design the job to allow breaks froma pC screen every so often-even if it's just walking to the copier/printer
>>>20minutes every 6 hrs isn't much

To be pedantic, it's not actually 20 minutes every 6 hours. If your working day is up to 6 hours long you're not entitled to any statutory breaks (although, as been suggested above, health & safety consideration will apply to certain tasks). If your working day exceeds 6 hours you're entitled to a SINGLE 20 minute (unpaid break). If your shift is 12 hours, 18 hours, or even longer you're still only entitled to ONE 20 minute break, not two or three.
Time to define 'Break'. If working with graphic display equipment, e.g. a computer monitor, a 'break' doesn't just mean going away for a cup of tea and a ciggy, but includes a 'change of activity' whereby you're no longer looking at the screen.
My Mrs sits in front of the laptop and looks at Facebook for 8 or 9 hours at a stretch is there a law against that? She moans if she has to leave it to go to the Loo.
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