Is your work a pain in the neck?

There are two extreme schools of thought on ergonomics. One says if you are sitting comfortably you probably don’t have a problem. The other says nonsense, you’ll be doing all sorts of damage – and what you need is a custom built ergonomic chair…. here’s one for only £600 just in from America. The good news is that the way in which the £600-a-shot brigade has it right is that it needn’t cost a lot of money every time. “Many people do spend a lot of money on chairs that are labelled ergonomic, but the actual guidelines on what makes an ergonomic chair is just that you can adjust it in terms of more than height,” Says Paul Godfrey, director of ergonomics specialist Health and Fitness Solutions. “You get one or two companies spending a lot thinking the more they spend the better the chair will be, but it’s all about adjustability.”

Essentially, what’s ergonomic for one person isn’t necessarily going to be ergonomic for someone else.

“You’re not going to be able to find one chair to fit all. When you take all the heights and sizes and body frames you’ll find in a company and try to fit it into one chair, you realise that even if various components of the chairs adjust, it still won’t fit the individual,” says Godfrey.

It’s worth considering what is meant by “ergonomic” in terms of chairs. The hollow of the back should be supported and the feet should rest comfortably on the ground or else a footrest. The elbows should be about level with the keyboard for comfortable typing and the top of the monitor should be at eye level. And that’s about it for beginners. It should be apparent from those components that the chair is only one element of the deal.

“A lot of people pay attention to the chair and forget that you need a good marriage between the chair and the desk,” says Godfrey. “Most desks are made to 700-720mm high. Unless you are 5ft 4in or shorter, 720mm is going to be too low for most people.” So you have a new ergonomic chair at the right height but sit too high and lean forward or compromise your sitting position by dropping the chair height.

The results can be complaining employees, which gets difficult because the people making the decisions about spending feel they’ve “done” ergonomics and it didn’t work. “When directors spend money on furniture and they don’t get the return on their investment that they’d hoped for, their perceptions of ergonomics have become negative,” says ergonomist Herman Bynke. “They are removed from the subject matter and they really don’t believe in ergonomics afterwards.” Bynke believes it isn’t enough to spend a lot on the state-of-the-art chairs. “Ergonomics is all about the fit between the human being and the equipment. It’s a big picture, and the ergonomics in the office environment is still focussed on the chair.

Godfrey agrees that people need to look further than the furniture. “People expect that good ergonomics are going to take their aches and pains away,” he says. “They need to understand that even when you’re sitting properly at a chair that’s been designed for you, with the right desk height and so on, you’re still sitting. We’re hunter gatherers, and the whole office environment has evolved over the last 20 years, while we haven’t evolved for many thousands. We like to be upright, we like to move about and the fact that you’re sitting well doesn’t take away the fact that you’re sitting.” People need to understand that they should get up for ten minutes an hour, and that staring at a screen for ages isn’t going to be a good idea, he says.

There is a lot that can be done without spending a lot of money. People make the mistake, says Bynke, of putting their screens to the side of the desk rather than looking straight at them – crick in the neck anyone? They put the documents on which they are working on the desk rather than at the same height as the monitor. Notebook users often seem to think that the monitor height rule doesn’t apply to them: stands for notebook computers are available though, for example the Notebook Station USB from Kensington.
“People forget that these products are designed for working on the move, not for sustained use, and therefore they sit hunched over their laptop for far too long,” says Phil O’Neill, director and business manager for Kensington Europe.

Lighting is also important. The Verilux Happy Eyes range is among those that imitates daylight, which is whiter than the yellowish artificial light to which most people have become accustomed. Overall, the way people make mistakes appears mostly to involve overlooking the basics. If you’re sitting badly, chances are you know you’re doing it, and if your staff are doing it so you’ll be able to spot it.

If you’re embarking on investigating the ergonomics of your environment for the first time, consider asking your staff whether they’re comfortable and educating them about the correct use of their equipment before spending a fortune – a high spend might prove unnecessary.