Skip to main content
To KTH's start page

Work /VDU glasses

The employer is legally required to supply aids to vision, such as glasses if an employee have trouble with their vision.

General information

The conditions for this are that the corrective glasses that the employee normally wears do not sufficiently eliminate the discomfort that has arisen. Furthermore, for work involving computer screens, other synergonomically important factors should also be adapted to the particular circumstances. Reflections, flickers, contrast, lighting, glare and viewing distance are examples of such other factors to which may need to be addressed.

To obtain work/computer glasses, a signed requisition is required and suppliers authorised within the State's framework agreement are to be used. Work/computer glasses are the property of the employer and shall be kept at the workplace.

The employer is legally obliged to provide visual aids if a worker has problems with the vision during display work. The employer shall also provide protective equipment, such as visors or goggles, when working with, for example, hazardous substances and welding.

Here's how:

  1. You inform your manager when vision problems associated with the work occur.
  2. Before visiting the optician, completed requisition, signed by the paying manager, should be carried. You can find the specific requisition for procured optician at avropa.se (link below). KTH also provides a general requisition form that you can use. Note that the requisition is valid for two months after signatures. Requisition Form .
  3. Before visiting opticians, the different visual distances that occur at work should be carefully measured. It is important to have favourable postures and also important that the visual distance is measured at the positions you normally have. Ask a colleague to help with measurement. Visual spacing during display work is introduced on that requisition.
  4. Next, contact your optician. For booking an eye examination and ordering glasses, the Swedish Framework Agreement must be followed. For information on what opticians are procured, please see avropa.se . 

Work glasses are the employer's property.

The frame of the working glasses can maximum cost 200 kr. The employee may pay extra if a more expensive frame is desired.

Display glasses/work glasses

According to the Swedish Work Environment Authority's regulation AFS 1998:5 Work at the monitor, the employee, who normally works at the monitor for more than 1 hour per day or who has visual problems, must undergo an eye examination. The visual examination shall then be carried out at regular intervals or when the worker is troubled by the visual requirements at work. The worker shall be provided by the employer with special glasses, which are tested for the work, if the eye examination shows that they are needed and that glasses for normal use cannot be used.

People who work at the monitor may experience problems such as eye irritation, eye fatigue, burning, red-eyedness and headaches, these symptoms may be associated with the absence of visual aids or visual aids with incorrect correction.

Goggles/visors

The Swedish Work Environment Authority requires the use of work glasses (goggles or visors) when working with e.g. microbiological occupational safety and health risks, hardening plastics, lasers, pesticides, mercury, liquid nitrogen, hazardous substances and welding. The employer shall provide polished goggles if ordinary goggles cannot be combined with their own correction glasses, e.g. in the case of a safety eye. laboratory work or workshop work. Tight-fitting goggles on the outside of regular glasses may cause the glasses and to imitate again or not seal on the face. PPE must be CE-marked and this means that frames and glass must always be tested as a unit.

Eye examination by ophthalmologists

If the results of an eye examination show that a supplementary examination by an ophthalmologist is needed, taking into account the visual requirements of the display work, the employer shall arrange for such an examination. If necessary, opticians will report to ophthalmologists.

Recurrent eye examinations

The appropriate interval of future visual examinations is proposed by the person conducting the survey. The employer, together with the employee, is responsible for doing this.

Cost of work glasses

The employer (your school) pays for special glasses, if eye examination shows that it is needed and that glasses for normal use cannot be used. Normal reading glasses are not replaced.

Arc, according to the supplier's maximum price in the agreed price list, is paid by the employer. The difference for more expensive arches is paid for by the individual employee.

When ordering an eye examination and glasses, the Swedish Framework Agreement must be followed.