Barely weeks after moving into a new office, employees at a title search firm are complaining about backaches, headaches, tired eyes and blurry vision. It sounds like their employer may need to conduct a design and functional analysis to get ergonomic furniture for office.
"Ergonomics" is a word that's heard about the workplace a lot these days. It refers to methods that analyze how people interact with the equipment in their office in ways that affect their job performance. This analysis measures the relationships among the worker, the equipment and the work environment, and looks for ways to improve them.
Ergonomics has become increasingly important as people do more work by computer. In particular, workplaces that rely heavily on computers as essential tools have discovered that using a computer places a particular set of stresses on people. Not only are workers more vulnerable to Repetitive Stress Injury because of increased typing, employees have developed headaches and backaches because of how they sit when working on computers. In addition, a new malady, Computer Vision Syndrome and Digital Eye Fatigue, has been identified. This is a condition in which people suffer blurry vision and headaches because their eyeglasses don't properly compensate for the distance between their eyes and the computer screen.
These are only a few examples of the kinds of things that are analyzed in the design of ergonomic furniture for office. Designers have determined that the key element of ergonomic furniture for office is a person's task chair, especially if that person works at a desk or on a computer.
Choosing an ergonomic office chair for an employee involves finding a chair that fits the worker's body size, has multiple adjustments to position the chair according to the work task, and sits on five wheels to avoid the chair tipping over. Precise measurements should be taken to assure a proper fit, both to the worker and to his or her office space.
Whereas in the past desks were often selected before chairs, using ergonomic furniture for office requires selecting the desk after the chair is chosen. The desk must sit at a height where the worker's elbows will be at a 90-degree angle when his or her hands are on the computer keyboard. A desk may need to be raised on sturdy blocks for an extremely tall worker, or it may need to be cut down or replace for a petite worker.
Computer monitors should be of a size that a worker doesn't have to twist his or her head in order to see all the characters on the screen. Workers should be able to reach telephones, recorders and other desktop equipment without having to lean to use them. The telephone in particular should be within arm's reach, or as close to the keyboard as possible. Also the worker should have a telephone headset so that he or she need not cradle the phone between ear and shoulder in order to use the keyboard while talking.
Ergonomic keyboards and computer "mice" should provide maximum support for wrist and arm. This support will minimize tension when typing and reduce the likelihood of repetitive stress injuries.
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