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ERGONOMICS - COMFORT AND HEALTH
Background
The average worker will spend up to 80% of their time in the office seated at their workstation - a staggering 68 000 hours seated. If the individual's posture and seating is not ergonomically correct, it will result in increased incidence of injury and a decline in productivity. Lost man hours due to this type of health problem can be avoided.
Ergonomics is a field of study aimed at ensuring that we adapt our tools, equipment and environment to best suit our needs. This is aimed at improving both the quality of experiences for your people AND enhancing your productivity (and therefore profitability)
2 Steps to creating an ergonomic workplace
1. Ensure that all workstations and seating is based on sound ergonomic designs.
2. Train your staff on the importance of ergonomics, and the setup of their workstations.
The seating
Your office seating should cater to all seated positions - this means that the user can shift position without being made to feel "uncomfortable" and maintaining the correct level of support. This ensures that the user can remain "active" while seated - an important principle in ensuring ergonomic support.
The seating must also reduce the stress and strain placed on the back by sitting. This means that support areas must be designed into the chair to help the back muscles, without compromising comfort. A sound support system alleviates strain, enhances comfort and allows the user to "mould" their seating posture with that of the chair.
There are some basic principles which need to be applied to sitting correctly:
1. Always sit with your back against the backrest - do not slide forward in the chair, removing your lower back from the arch support area.
2. Sit actively - change positions to increase blood flow, avoid cramping, and alleviate any residual tension from a single position.
3. Keep your bodies major angles at right angles (or greater) - flat seat with upright spine, legs parallel to the ground with feet planted or stretched out forward.
So what key features do you want in your workstation seating:
1. Sufficient height adjustment.
2. Tilting seat with a waterfall front edge.
3. Dual density moulded seat foam
4. Backrest with height and tilt adjust.
5. Firm lower back/lumbar support in the backrest.
The Workstation
Workstations also need to be set up to ensure a comfortable and healthy working environment.
4 simple but effective steps to assist with user health and comfort:
1. Your elbows should be slightly raised off the desktop when you are typing, with wrists resting gently on the desktop - a 5-10 degree angle.
2. Your monitor should be placed directly in front of you, approximately 70-90cm from you.
3. Tilt your monitor to face directly up to your eyes, with the top edge slightly below your eye line.
4. Ensure that your feet are firmly planted on the ground, and place the keyboard close enough to not have to lean forward while working.
The User Posture
Poor posture results in a number of problems and health issues. Amongst the most common being:
• Spine and Back Pain
Bending and curving the spine results in muscle strain, and over prolonged periods can substantially weaken the spinal support muscles.
• Headaches
Primarily caused by strain and stress on the neck muscles. This is due to "leaning in" to the computer, and not taking the weight of the head on the vertical spine, but on the angled neck muscles
• Circulation
Poorly designed seating, and bad sitting positions results in restricted blood flow to the lower part of the body, particularly the thighs and lower legs. This can result in circulatory problems and in extreme cases thrombosis and clotting.
Good seating and good posture can alleviate and overcome a large proportion of these problems, and it is relatively simple to achieve.
1. Sit far back on the seat, with your back firmly against the backrest. Ensure that the seating has an S shaped backrest, with strong lumbar support.
2. Keep the angles large (90 degrees or more) between the back, thighs, calves and floor.
3. Adjust the height of the seating so that your feet can be firmly planted, and your arms can easily rest on the desktop.
4. Adjust your position frequently - sit actively.
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