Ergonomics

This is where you will find all the pages tagged Ergonomics.

Design your home office for comfort and ease of use

The notion of universal design in the home, or how to make interior spaces more user-friendly and accessible, usually comes up in kitchen and bath designs.

But what about accommodations for ease of use in home offices? According to the U.S. Census and Transportation Research Board, the number of Americans who work at home grew 23 percent between 1990 and 2000 to more than 4 million at-home workers.

It is routine for large businesses to consider ergonomics, lighting and other factors when creating offices to make work spaces more functional. Even reducing employee fatigue is part of the planning mix.

But not so in home offices. Without the same access to design experts as big business, homebound workers are generally left to their own devices to choose desks, lighting, storage, carpet and chairs. But an odd mix of products may not work cohesively to help workers perform at their best.

According to Dick Duncan of the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University, in-home workers tend to pooh-pooh the idea of function in favor of low cost and product appearance.

Home office physical health

I've noticed some minor symptoms of carpel tunnel syndrome in my 'mousing hand' and have started to examine some proper ways to set-up my soho work environment. It's nothing serious yet but I think those of us who spend hours everyday in much the same position doing much of the same thing should be vary wary. Perhaps this is yet another reason to be even more mobile than a home office will allow - pick a string of coffee shops to work in to keep you active and to change the positions in which you work. That is if you can work in that environment and it is available to you. Replacing a corporate cubicle for a home office doesn't always give you the freedom you thought it would - get out and work some place new.

Work station ergonomics
"Incorrect working posture can cause musculoskeletal disorders affecting the neck, back, shoulders, arms and fingers."

Carpal tunnel syndrome
"It's thought that repetitive overuse of the hand tendons causes them to become inflamed. This is one reason why keyboard use can be responsible for carpal tunnel syndrome."

Above photo is not the best example of good posture.

Don't get so close: A guide for computer work

Remember when your mom told you not to sit too close to the television, because it would ruin your eyes? Well, how many hours of the day or evening do you spend sitting just a couple of feet from your computer screen?

According to a recent survey by MetaFacts Inc., a market research firm, people in the United States spent an average of 25.9 hours a week on their computers in 2005.

And it looks once again as if Mom might've had a point -- a collection of problems, called computer vision syndrome, can result from spending so much time in front of a computer monitor.

According to Dr. Jeffrey Anshel, optometrist and author of "Visual Ergonomics in the Workplace," The American Optometric Association describes computer vision syndrome as "that complex of eye and vision complaints that people experience during or after computer use: eyestrain, blurred vision, headaches, neck and backaches."

What do neck and backaches have to do with vision? Dr. Anshel explains, "because the eyes lead the body, people will adjust their body posture to make it easier for their eyes to see. So, very often if someone has a backache or neck or shoulder problem it could be their eyes."

Headaches and dry eyes are also symptoms of computer vision syndrome. The causes can include poor lighting, glare, a desk or workstation that is not set up correctly, and even uncorrected vision problems.

"I feel that computer vision problems are a combination of three factors," says Dr. Anshel, "the work environment, the person's work habits and their visual condition."

In terms of the physical environment, Dr. Anshel says, "the No. 1 problem I see in the workplace is the height of the monitor." He says that most monitors are actually too high, and recommends positioning the monitor "so that if someone is sitting in a comfortable posture, sitting back in their chair, if they're looking straight ahead they should be looking just over the top of the monitor." He also recommends that the monitor be angled back about 10 to 15 degrees.

Lighting is also important, and can be tricky, says Dr. Anshel "Normally we work on paper, which needs reflected light, but the monitor has its own light, so it's a whole different lighting situation, so you need to balance it out. In general what I recommend is that the background of the monitor and the surrounding illumination around it are approximately equal."

Don't get so close: A guide for computer work - CNN.com. Via Usernomics