Eye strain resulting from VDT work at the Swedish telecommunications administration

A short experiment was carried out in the sales office and directory enquiries department of the Swedish Telecommunications Administration. VDT workload was set at two levels, a 'normal' level and an 'intensified' level. Visual strain associated with the work on VDTs was assessed by questionnaires and measurements of the near points of accommodation and convergence. When the VDT work routines were intensified an increase in subjective symptoms of visual strain was recorded. Increases in the near points of accommodation and convergence were recorded with intensified VDT workload. The experiment showed that organisational factors such as work spell duration and the rigidity of work routines seemed to play an important role in the frequency with which visual strain occurs in VDT work.