Work in a healthy and comfortable way
More comfortable or better way of working does not constitute an expression, which would encourage us, or our employer to act, but the answers to the following questions can certainly provide for it:
- How can we work in a more efficient and effective way?
- How can we reduce absences?
- How should we work so that we do not feel fatigued with long-lasting, sitting work?
- How should we work so that we do not feel pain in our back, cervical segment of the spine, pain in wrists or numbness of legs?
What does office furniture have to do with it? The furniture is our working tool, which we use every day, sometimes not even being aware of it. What kind of solutions should be adopted here? What should be noted? As usual, we should start from the beginning. In the beginning of our considerations, there is a human being created by Mother Nature definitely for other purposes than office work in a sitting position, in front of a computer. Technologically, we may have reached the 21st century, but the structure of our body has not much changed during several thousand years. In addition, in past, we did not necessarily work in the way as we do today. Changes in working form have been invented during less than past 200 years.
We have therefore created a science called ergonomics, which is supposed to answer questions on how to minimise or eliminate negative effects of our environment in physical and mental sense. Solutions can of course change, as the state of knowledge 10-20 years ago was different than it is today, but the form and the specific nature of our work looks different, too.
What should be noted during configuration of a working place? Absolutely, in this scope we begin with adjustment of the height of our swivel chair. Feet should rest freely on the ground, knees should be kept at a slightly obtuse angle in order not to hinder the blood circulation. The backrest should be slightly bent backwards, the lumbar support should be put at adequate height, and armrests should be positioned in a way making it possible to achieve an obtuse angle in elbows, when arms are placed on the armrests. People are not able to hold such a position for a long time, although it is a proper sitting position. Therefore, our chair should be equipped with a Synchro mechanism, providing for dynamic sitting, which means that both the seat and the backrest should follow us in an active way. There are many mechanisms, excluding the simplest of them (CPT or Permanent Contact), i.e. the popular bolt on the backrest, which is used for setting of a static seat, and not a dynamic one, we can actually choose between two concepts – either we adjust all mechanisms, or the mechanisms are constructed in such a way that they adjust themselves to the shape of our body. However, it is most important that mechanisms of dynamic sitting (notwithstanding the type) ensure that the front part of the seat is not raised through bending of the backrest, as it would cause pressure on lower leg and hinder blood circulation, which is perceived as numb legs. It is worth noting that as much as 20% of employees complain about chronic tingling of feet, numb or swollen legs.
It is only after proper adjustment of the chair when we should adjust the height of the desk. There is one basic rule: furniture is designed for us, and we are not designed for furniture. Certainly, for some persons of approx. 170 cm of height, the standard height of the desk is adequate. How about other people? Well, they should adjust the height of the desk up- or downwards. The adjustment range recommended by the Institute of Occupational Medicine for our society covers the scope from approx. 64 to 84 cm. When choosing a desk, we should therefore check if it is equipped with an easy and simply handled type of adjustment, which can be performed by anyone without use of expert tools. Why should we adjust the height of our desk? Setting of the desktop in a too low position will result in our bending over the desk (in most cases, we would also draw legs in, hindering free blood circulation to the feet), which would mean giving up of lumbar support and dynamic sitting. The result: pain in the lumbar region of the spine and pain in the neck. According to studies conducted, as much as 91% of office employees suffer from such pain! Setting of the desktop in a too high position would in a turn, encourage us to adjust the chair for a too high working position, which would result in pressure on lower legs and hindering of blood circulation, and in the end – numb legs.
Placing of the monitor is another important issue. The monitor should be placed in such a way that we look at the centre of the screen slightly downwards, as it is a normal inclination of people to look slightly downwards. Looking upwards, we apply a load to the upper part of our spine, where we can experience long-lasting and troublesome pain. The monitor should be placed sideward to a source of illumination; otherwise, we would encounter troubles with our organ of sight. Such ailments are at present experiences by 41% of office employees.
How about the keyboard? When the height of the desk is adjusted and optimal, we should place the keyboard on the desktop, at least 10 cm away from its edge. No keyboard drawer – why? Working on a keyboard drawer, we often raise wrists during the use of the keyboard, sometimes resting them on the armrests. Long-lasting work results in ailments and pain of wrists. 62% of employees suffer from such ailments, and the istmuth syndrome of wrist has a status of occupational disease.
What do our safety-at-work regulations provide here for? They have been specified in the Regulation of the Minister for Health and Social Policy of December 1, 1998, and they basically meet the above requirements. In addition, they stipulate that all furniture possessed should be adapted to those requirements by March 2001. Why doesn't it happen in reality? Unfortunately, the awareness of employees and employers in this respect is too low. In addition, a bad working place is a kind of a silent cancer. Ailments and diseases appear after months of work and are often not considered to be connected to the working place, as short-term work does not immediately result in degeneration of the spine. If we carry 1 kg of sugar on a distance of 10 m every 10 minutes, do we realise that we have carried 60 kg of sugar on a distance of 600 m during 10 hours, which does not constitute a great value itself, but if we work this way during 23 working days in a month, we would carry 1,380 kg on a distance of 13.8 km, and 16,560 kg on a distance of more than 165 km during a year. When ailments are noticed, it will be quite late. The truth is that with today's high unemployment, young people do not realise consequences of such work, and elderly people look forward to retiring and do not complain. Employers try to “save money” on the purchases, being not aware of the fact that it would increase absences and reduce efficiency of employees. Yet, someday we are going to have everyone treated – but who is going to pay for it.....
INTERESTING FACTS:
A gross raise of 10 PLN is ridiculous. It would rather not motivate our employee. However, if we would put 10 PLN aside every month during 5 years, we will achieve 600 PLN. Instead of providing minimum raises on salaries, it is worth to add this money to the purchase of a good, comfortable chair, which would reduce or eliminate ailments, related to long-lasting office work, and would protect the company from employees’ absence.
Companies spend 30-50 PLN in a month for car wash. Why should we then spare 5 PLN in a month on a chair, if it is a more important working tool for an office employee than a car?
In Poland, average expenses for a working place, i.e. desk, container, chair, filing cabinet, amount to approx. 2,400 PLN, i.e. 40 PLN in a month in the depreciation period. Increasing of the expenses by 10 PLN in a month will result in much greater possibilities of purchasing of more comfortable office furniture.
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