Matt Brewer
Contributing Writer
Direct Energy/Success Academy

Safety is truly one of the keys to success with any business, the safer the environment the more productivity you will get from your employees. The focus today will be within the office, where musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) play a tremendous part in OSHA filed cases each year.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that there were 365,580 reported cases of MSDs in 2014. That accounted for 32{938cd9e8dae860e800efc538277d4f7684e6f6981618ba70d1c34357a53c2e1f} of all injury and illness cases that were reported to OSHA. Those reported cases had employees missing on average 13 days of work for recuperation with the main causes being sprains, strains and tears.

The good news is we can help minimize those incidents in the office by following a few guidelines by improving our workstation components such as our chairs, desks, monitors and keyboards. By setting up these components properly we will be able to help you perform more efficiently and work more comfortably and safe.

Chairs

The first component that we will discuss is your chair. Every chair has a few parts that need to be properly aligned for each individual. The backrest, seat, armrest, and base.

Poor back support and inappropriate postures may result from inadequate backrest size, material, positioning or use. This can lead to back pain and fatigue. The backrest of a chair should assist in maintaining the natural S-Shape curvature of your spine. If you feel that you are not getting the lumbar support that you need, try rolling up a towel or use a removable back support that fits into the small of your back. When choosing a lumbar support device you should be able to recline at least 15 degrees from the vertical.

Seat

Adjust the seat to where your feet are firmly on the ground and with your knees slightly above the seat of the chair. If the seat can’t be lowered it may be necessary for you to have a footrest. Never allow for your feet to dangle or barely touch the ground.

Armrest

If the armrest is too low this may cause you to lean forward in your seat or lean on to one side, creating an awkward posture

If the armrest is too high you may have to raise your shoulders causing muscle tension and fatigue in the neck and shoulders.

The armrest should be at a height where your upper arms are allowed to remain close to your torso, your shoulders to be relaxed and close to even with your desk, allowing your arms to lay flat.

Base

Chairs should have a strong five legged base if on casters and a minimum of 4 legs without casters.

The next component that we will discuss is your desk. Very simply put your desk should allow for you to work comfortably by providing a few key components. The desk should be large enough to allow for you to see your monitor at a distance of at least 20 inches and to have other frequently used devices (keyboard, phone and mouse) should remain within the repetitive access or primary work zone. The primary work zone is defined as within arms – reach.

Areas under your desk should have adequate clearance for your legs as well free from clutter. There should be no items under your desk that will limit your legs and feet.

The 3rd component is your monitor. The monitor should be placed at a minimum of 20 inches from the edge of the desk and the top line of the monitor placed at eye level. This will allow for you to see the entire screen without having to put additional strain on your eyes, neck and shoulders. For some a distance greater than 20 inches may be required but it should never be less than the 20 inch distance. Finally if possible align your monitor perpendicular to the window. This will help minimize any glare that you may have on your screen making it less stressful on your eyes.

This brings us to our last component of this course and that is your keyboard. With your keyboard we are going to spend a little time talking about the height, distance, and for left handers the left hand key usage.

Keyboard Height

Keyboards that are too low may cause you to type with your wrists bent up and when your keyboards are too high you may need to raise your shoulders to elevate your arms. To select the right height for your keyboard make sure that your chair is raised to the right height so that your elbows are about the same height as your keyboard and hang comfortably to the side of the body. Shoulders be relaxed and wrists should not be bent upward or downward.

Keyboard distance

The keyboard should remain a distance that allows for your elbows to stay close to your body with your forearms approximately parallel with the floor.

Left Hand Key Usage

Most keyboards have the 10 key keypad permanently on the right side of the keyboard which can be limiting to left handed design users or right handed users that have an injury that limits their ability to be functional.

Some solutions to this common issue is that there are alternative left hand keyboards that have the keypad affixed to the left side of the keyboard or detached keypads that allow the user to switch positions for either hand use. There are also programmable stand – alone keypads available to facilitate either left or right hand usage.

These are just a few things that you can do to ensure your office is ergonomically friendly.