Category: Uncategorized

Overcoming Seated Discomfort

Thursday, 21 March, 2013 11:41 Written by admin
0 Comments

Most of the time when I am at work you will find me seated in front of my computer.  In the past this would have caused me a great deal of discomfort, you might say “seated discomfort.”  But fortunately I have taken some steps to get me within my comfort zone while at work.  Seated Discomfort can be caused by any number of issues from poor or lack of knowledge on how to set up your chair to improper positioning of task related objects and materials.

Many people are often so eager to sit down and start using their new chair or other piece of equipment at their workstation that they pay little or no attention to how it works.  While the way each person works may be different, the tools they use daily are fairly universal.  We might agree that the chair, computer (often times laptop), keyboard, mouse, desk lamp, telephone, and files/cabinets are among the most common items used on a daily bases.  Each item may be slightly different, however it’s important to take the time and learn how to properly adjust and place these items to maximize your comfort and productivity.

Let’s take a closer look at seating/chairs and how to get comfortable.  We already mentioned that you should spend time learning what features your chair has and how to adjust them to fit your needs.  This can be overwhelming given that many of today’s office chairs come with features like lumbar support; articulating arm rests that move front to back, are width adjustable and pivot left and right; seat pan adjustments; and tilt / recline adjustments.  In addition to setting up your chair properly,

  • take frequent breaks and stand, take a short walk and stretch;
  • follow the 20/20/20 rule – every 20 minutes take a break from computer work and stare at an object 20 feet away from you for 20 seconds.  This helps relieve eye strain.
  • make sure your feet are flat on floor;
  • there is space between the back of your knees and the front of the chair;
  • and your thighs comfortably clear under the work surface.
  • consider setting up the work station as a “sit-stand” solution but using a height adjustable desk; combining a sit-stand monitor arm with a sit-stand keyboard tray or scissor lift.

 

Proper use and placement of computers, keyboard, mouse and other task related items could make a large impact on your comfort and productivity levels.  Placing your monitor too far or too close to you can cause eye, neck and shoulder strain.  As a general rule your monitor should be an arm’s length in front of you and your eyes should be even with two to three inches below the top of the monitor casing.  Use of a monitor arm will go along way towards reducing strain and freeing up space on your work surface.

You want your keyboard and mouse to be as close together as possible at a height that causes your elbows to be bent at or near a 90-degree angle.  The keyboard and mouse should be on a surface that is flat or has a slight negative decline.

Finally, all your task related objects that you use throughout the day should be placed within your optimal reach and focal zone.  Unnecessary reaching, bending, twisting and turning can cause discomfort and undue strain.  By arranging your everyday items within easy reach you will reduce strain, pain and increase your productivity.  Using a beam mounted on your work surface allows you to position task related items easily and again frees up space on your desk.

Taking a few precautions today will save you much pain and suffer down the road.  Nobody wants to have back pain, eye, neck and should strain and repetitive stress injuries or carpal tunnel syndrome.  These changes to my work environment have made a world of difference in my comfort and productivity at work.  I am sure they will help you as well.

Special thanks to our friends at SpaceCo Business Solutions for allowing us use of their videos.

School Chairs and Ergonomics

Wednesday, 06 February, 2013 13:18 Written by admin
0 Comments

Comfort, mobility has taken a back seat to ubiquitous school chair

Interesting article from Denver Post and NYT by Al Baker on school chairs and how many are hold out from an age before ergonomics.

NEW YORK — Education trends come and go: mandatory pledges of allegiance, new math, forcing left-handed children to write with their right hand.

And then there is the classroom chair. A top chair of choice since the mid-1990s has been the Model 114, also known as the “super stacker,” 15 pounds of steel, sawdust and resin that comes in 22 colors and has a basic, unyielding design little changed from its wooden forebears.   [Read full article click here]

 

Factors Impeding Worker Performance – Clutter

Tuesday, 15 January, 2013 11:45 Written by admin
0 Comments

In the January issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, Princeton University researchers found in their study “Interactions of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Mechanism in Human Visual Cortex” that physical clutter negatively affects your ability to focus and process information.  So I don’t believe it would be a stretch to say that having “clutter” in your workspace can lead to a loss in productivity.  Cleaning up your workspace so that your everyday task items are within your optimal reach and focal zone is one of the keys to reducing clutter and improving performance.

Is your desk filled with clutter to the point where you can’t find anything?  Speaking from personal experience, I have had a cluttered (aka “messy”) desk in the past and have been extremely frustrated when I need something but just can’t seem to put my hands on it because of my lack of workspace organization.

The solution to a cluttered workspace can be quite simple – get organized!  Easier said than done?  Not really.  Take a look at some of the solutions available on the market today:Clutter UnClutter

  • Retro-fit your desk with a SpaceBeam (also known as a tool rail).  With a SpaceBeam you can add accessories to aid in your organization.  Get your monitor off the desk by adding a SpaceArm; place commonly used files in a file rack and binders in a binder rack; pens, pencils, staplers can be place in holders or on shelves that attach to the SpaceBeam.  You can see by placing these items up and off the worksurface, clutter has taken a back seat!
  • Add a Pelican Drawer for quick, secure and easy to reach storage of files, laptops, handbags and other everyday items.Pelican Drawer
  • To reduce clutter underneath your desk, organize your cables with a Cable Spine or Net.  Doing this not only reduces clutter, it makes wires and cables more readily accessible should you or IT need to access them.  Getting them off the floor also reduces the chance of someone getting tangled up in them and tripping or inadvertently unplugging a cable.

 

Remove the clutter factor that is impeding your performance by using these solutions or some of the others on the market and I guarantee you will see a positive change in your focus and performance at work.

Injuries Caused By Poor Ergonomics

Wednesday, 05 December, 2012 10:43 Written by admin
0 Comments

While preparing to write a blog on the effects of poor ergonomics we came across this article on the AFSCME.org web site and decided to not reinvent the wheel!  Click here to read the article.

Change Your Focus – LEED to Productivity

Tuesday, 17 July, 2012 10:01 Written by admin
0 Comments

To give a bit of perspective, most organizations are spending millions of dollars to gain LEED certification for their buildings.  The primary issue in regards to LEED is saving energy.  While it is a good and noble cause, the annual cost a company spends on energy is about 1%.  The total annual cost spent on employees is about 90%2. Where will efforts to improve operations have the most positive impact on the corporate bottom line?

In the past, knowledge worker productivity has been very difficult to measure from work product as there can be a gulf between quality and quantity of work product as well as each different job can have very different specifics.  Each job would need to be engineered with very specific benchmarks on both quantity and quality in order to gauge total productivity.

The current state of company focus on improving employee productivity, health and prevention efforts is based on reducing high health care costs.   As a result, companies have instituted wellness programs in order to improve overall employee health in an attempt to bring down health care costs.  Wellness programs are important but in many cases, companies feel helpless as they find that there is little they can do to control the factors impacting overall employee health.   What our research has found is that one very large component of health care costs is actually within direct corporate control and provides a substantial opportunity to realize sustainable healthcare cost reductions and significantly raising overall productivity.

“The details of the medical expenses of the WRMSD (work-related musculoskeletal disorder) cases suggest that very high proportions of the medical visits and procedures were paid for either by general health insurance or out of pocket. “ Source: The Economic and Social Consequences of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders: The Connecticut Upper-Extremity Surveillance Project (CUSP). This study was provided through Dr. Casey Chosewood of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

That means that the other 89% of the claims were handled in a different manner than through workers’ compensation.  In other words, many (if not most) of the WRMSDs or ergonomics related injuries occurring are being handled through the corporate health insurance system and are significantly raising program costs.  The big concern of injuries being handled in this manner is as employees go through the health insurance system, they are essentially unmanaged from a work perspective and little if anything is known much less tracked and managed about their real cost to the organization.  When the impact of these injuries and general discomfort in the organization is studied in detail, the cost of the resulting lost productivity is significantly larger than any other cost including medical, equipment and even facilities.

People costs are by far the largest organizational expense and productivity is the key metric. While LEED is “all the rage” right now and is important, take a hard look at how you are managing productivity of your work force, identify the factors impeding worker productivity and then correct them.  It will make a much larger impact on your bottom line than LEED certificate.

« Older Entries