Sample Ergonomic Workstation Evaluation
Provided by Onsight Technology Education Services
This is an actual evaluation report from a client seen by Onsight's ergonomic consultant. The evaluation lasted for one hour, and a pre-eval questionnaire was filled out in advance to increase the value of the consultant's visit by saving interview time. This example illustrates a number of common ergonomic issues found in present day offices.
"James"
(Not his real name, but a cleverly chosen alias.)
"James" works for a publishing company, and has a very paperwork intensive job. He reports problems with chronic headaches, enough to have seen a doctor about them. He spends an average of five hours per day using the computer.
The Chair
James is much too tall for the chair he is presently using. It leads him to slump and lean almost constantly in an attempt to achieve comfort and support. He requires a chair which is capable of a height such that his feet are flat on the floor while making firm contact with the seat pan along the bottom of his thighs. It is not possible to set the current chair high enough to achieve this.
The back should be tall enough to reach to his upper back while also placing sufficient curve in position to support his lower back. He also has expressed a preference for armrests which will need to be adjustable and short enough not to interfere with sitting close to his desk.
James suffers from a considerable shortage of desk space, demonstrated by papers being piled on the floor for lack of a better location. It means he does a great deal of bending over and picking up objects from the floor. This is a significant strain to the the back, and also the neck and shoulders as the weight of the head must be carried. The heavier the stack of paper or box he lifts, the more strain to the body.
The Desk
He has a single, metal desk with drawers on either side. Its use for his computer precludes space needed for paperwork. The desk is plainly inappropriate for the computer. Not being deep enough for the CPU, monitor, and keyboard, he places it at an angle to the side. This clears a contiguous portion of desk space rather than dividing it to either side of the computer, so he has located it at the corner as a best attempt to make the desk useful for paperwork.
The drawers on either side of the old desk limit his leg room, so that he must separate his legs when he is at the computer, also pushing him farther away. So he slumps in the seat, reaches his arms forward from the shoulders to the keyboard, and bends his head forward to see the monitor. In short, his computer posture is highly stressful.
The Keyboard
The angle of the keyboard leaves his right arm hanging off in space, requiring the shoulder to carry it more than otherwise, even moreso given the heights of the table and his slumped position, all of which make him lift his arms higher to the keyboard. In an effort to compensate he is inclined to lean to the left to support his body. Planting the left arm means that his keyboard use with the left hand involves considerable bending (deviation) of the wrist and stretching the fingers, since the position of the hand is fixed by the position of the arm. This puts undue strain on the tendons and tissues of the wrist and hand.
The Mouse
The computer position also results in the mouse being placed on the only remaining piece of the desk left - a small surface beyond the keyboard. He must extend the right arm well ahead to reach it, almost at shoulder level given his sitting posture. Aside from the strain to the shoulder and neck, it draws him away from the chair and promotes more slumping and leaning to get his arm into the best possible relationship to the mouse, all things considered.
Headaches and Paperwork
He describes himself as a "tense person in general" and reports having headaches to enough of a degree to have visited a doctor. The five hours per day he spends at the computer in these conditions almost certainly contribute to his problem.
For much of his computer work he refers to documents for which he should have a document holder to minimize forward leaning of the head. The need to extend the head downward to look at papers flat on the desk, also turning the head to the side is a considerable exertion of the neck and shoulders, another contributing factor the the headaches. He should experiment with a slantboard or various document holders to determine which will meet his personal preferences and work style.
Some space in his office is taken up with a typewriter which is used only for typing envelopes, a situation common with several persons at the company. It is easily possible to prepare a word processing file to imprint envelopes using a laser printer Ð and also better looking. For many, this would preclude the need for a typewriter in their personal office space, and for James would allow space for an appropriate computer table.
He spends significant time on the telephone, and when at the computer leans far across the desk to reach it, still slumping in the chair as he talks. James is a strong candidate for a headset telephone.
Glare
He is in one of the "fishbowl" offices, closer still to a skylight which circles the top of the elevator. He gets a particularly strong dose of light in the evenings, which reflects considerable glare onto his computer monitor. The position of the computer at the corner only points it more toward the source of the glare. A new table for the computer would likely be placed in the opposite orientation, putting the glare in his eyes - yet another vote for provision of blinds for these glassed-in offices.
Onsight Technology Education Services - Home Page
Last update: 10/11/99
Email feedback
Copyright 1999, Onsight Technology Education Services