Can a voucher scheme be made HSE-compliant for industrial work?

In principle — if the employer separately specifies the required grade to every branch, verifies each dispensed pair’s markings, collects certificates centrally and audits it all. In practice that is a second, manual compliance system bolted onto the voucher, which is the cost the voucher was meant to save.

Are voucher schemes cheaper?

For DSE populations, usually yes. For industrial Rx populations, the face price is only part: add above-band top-ups on safety eyewear, employee time off-site, and the administration of chasing paper across branches, and the totals converge or invert — before valuing the audit trail at all.

We already have a voucher contract. Do we switch everything?

No — keep it for what it is good at. Add a managed programme for the assessed industrial roles, and let each population use the tool built for it.

What happens to eye tests on a managed platform?

The wearer’s own optician provides the routine sight test and prescription — the same one behind their everyday glasses. The platform verifies that prescription remotely and manufactures to it. DSE test obligations, where they apply, are unaffected.

Eyecare Voucher Schemes vs Managed Safety Eyewear Platforms — Certus

An honest decision guide: where voucher schemes genuinely work, where managed platforms win, and the six questions that settle it for your workforce.

Certus is a UK platform for managing prescription safety eyewear compliance to EN 166, covering hazard assessments, ordering, optician verification and certificate records. Operated by Certus Safety Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 17364362.