Ergonomics and the workplace...

Having spent many years sitting behind desks and working at computers, we at Two Nine O Five decided it was important to include a section on the website about the correct way in which to set up your computer work station to help avoid some of the common neck, back, arm and shoulder pain assisted by bad posture at the computer.

Many large companies will have a health and safety training officer in place trained to do just this but smaller companies don't have the budget to do this. To this end, we've searched the web and come up with some really good sites for you to look at and hopefuly take on board the information.

ergonomics.about.com - Good site showing the 'how not to' as well as 'the how to' set up a workstation.

Poor posture, lack of proper equipment and incorrect “ergonomic” information are all contributing factors to an improper computer setup.

You can see, as illustrated here, that working at a computer can cause a lot of distress in a number of different parts of the body. With that in mind here are some key things not to do:

• Avoid existing ergonomic guidelines unless they make scientific sense. Ergonomics should be based on fact, research, experimentation and theory using body mechanics as a base line.
  
  
• Do not settle for a desk without a keyboard tray or some other way to set the keyboard height and angle correctly. If your employer complains about the cost ask them to compare it to the cost of workman’s compensation.

RSI -Repetitive Stress Injury or repetitive strain injury is an injury caused by physically straining a body part repetitively. Any part of the body can receive this type of injury but the main concern for this particular section of the site is that of the wrist arm and neck muscles caused by repetitive computer action.

Check out this video on how to set up your seating position and avoid bad posture whilst working at your computer. Remember also, the body is designed to move not sit, so get up and move around from your computer several times an hour, or, failing that, set up your desk so you have to move to reach the phone or access files etc.

View ergonomic video

There are many chairs out there which profess to be the best for your back etc. and I've tried quite a few. The best I have found so far has been the swing seat from Smart Motion. Chairs are an individual thing but this one fits in all the right places and moves with you. Check out their website www.smartmotion.co.uk and read some of the testimonials from ergonomists. The other thing I like about this chair is that it is affordable and they give you a 30 day trial so you can return it within that time if it doesn't suit you.