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There is significant scope for organisations to improve efficiency, health and safety and employee satisfaction by applying ergonomics in the working environment. Ergonomically designed workplaces, equipment and jobs aim to modify the environment to meet people’s needs. There are many such needs within the office environment
It is almost ten years since the Health and Safety - Display Screen Equipment (DSE) Regulations came into force. There are some organisations, which have just heard about these regulations. There are still considerable number of organisations who are either unaware of the existence of these regulations or choose to ignore them. Most organisations partly comply with these regulations by only undertaking very minimal risk assessments, which in their view show that everything is acceptable. Small proportion of organisations fully complies and exceeds the requirements of these regulations and consequently reaps the benefits of more productive healthier and happier workforce.
In April 2003, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published amended guidance on these regulations, entitled ‘work with display screen equipment: Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 as amended by the Health and Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2002’. One of the key changes has been that portable display screen equipment (DSE) such as laptop computers is now subject to the DSE regulations.
Display screen equipment legislation places a duty upon employers to control the risks associated with DSE use
The best solution is not to use laptops as replacements for desktop computers. If laptops are to be used in the office environment (either as a replacement for desktop computers or when hoteling/hot-desking) they need to be used with a separate high clarity height adjustable screen, a keyboard and an independent pointing device (such as an external mouse) at a docking station.
It is over 15 years since standardisation work began on office chairs. It is now complete and the standard BS EN 1335, Office Furniture-office work chairs will shortly being published in three parts.
The depth of worksurface would be determined by the eye to monitor distance which is 600 mm ± 150 mm depending on the size of the monitor and the legibility of information displayed. This means that CRTs would require a desk of much greater depth than flat screens. However, flat screens do not mean that we can reduce the desk depth.
Since the introduction of the PC into the office environment monitor support arms (for CRT monitors) have been used sporadically. They seemed to offer several advantages; the monitor can be adjusted to the desired height and distance on the desk to suit the user, or indeed adjusted to suit any user in a multi-task office. If there is a sufficient place on the desk, the available desk space could be increased and, when the monitors are not in use, but the shear sizes of CRT monitors made this difficult.
The Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) guidance document on the Display Screen Equipment Regulations state that standards will provide specifications for new equipment, they may also be used as a yardstick for assessing the suitability of existing installations. The guidance notes go further by stating that workstations, which comply with the appropriate standards cited in the guidance, would meet, and in most cases exceed the relevant requirements of the Display Screen Regulations.
The rapid spread of laptop computers ran ahead of the scientific research into the health and safety aspects of their use. However, Leon Straker at Curtin University in Australia cites a recent study which found that 60% of laptop users reported musculoskeletal discomfort.
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