Healthy Computing: Work Area

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…

  1. Thighs have clearance space between chair and monitor table/keyboard
    platform (thighs not trapped). YES/NO

  2. Legs and feet have clearance space under monitor table so employee is
    able to get close enough to keyboard/input device. YES/NO

  3. Document holder, if provided, is stable and large enough to hold
    documents that are used. YES/NO

  4. 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

  5. Wrist rest, if provided, is padded and free of sharp and square edges.
    YES/NO

  6. 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

  7. 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: http://www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/computerworkstations_ecat/checklist.html

Copyright 2003 Erik Peper, Ph.D. and Katherine Hughes Gibney
Permission to copy and distribute Healthy Computing Email Tips for
personal use is granted. Distribution or copying of Healthy Computing
Email Tips for commercial purposes is prohibited without prior written
consent of the copyright holders

Connection error. Connection fail between instagram and your server. Please try again
Written by Katherine HughesGibney

Explore Wellness in 2021