When working in an office, we accept the ergonomic situation as it is.
Often, the set-up is not optimum and may increase the risk of discomfort.
Decrease your risk and enhance your health when you check your WORK AREA.
How to check your WORK AREA:
Use the following checklist, Work Area*. To any question that you
answered with NO, explore strategies to reduce the risk of injury.
The work area is designed or arranged for doing computing tasks so that...
- Thighs have clearance space between chair and monitor table/keyboard
platform (thighs not trapped). YES/NO
- Legs and feet have clearance space under monitor table so employee is
able to get close enough to keyboard/input device. YES/NO
- Document holder, if provided, is stable and large enough to hold
documents that are used. YES/NO
- Document holder, if provided, is placed at about the same height and
distance as monitor screen so there is little head movement when
employee looks from document to screen. YES/NO
- Wrist rest, if provided, is padded and free of sharp and square edges.
YES/NO
- Telephone can be used with head upright (not bent) and shoulders
relaxed (not elevated) if employee does VDT tasks at the same time.
YES/NO
- Workstation and equipment have sufficient adjustability so that the
employee is able to be in a safe working posture and to make occasional
changes in posture while performing VDT tasks. YES/NO
*Adapted from Workstation Check List developed by OSHA. For more detail
see: www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/computerworkstations_ecat/checklist.html
Copyright 2003 Erik Peper, Ph.D. and Katherine Hughes Gibney
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