Friday, September 11, 2009

Ergonomic Office Furniture Design - One Sign For A Company Who Cares

By Anthony Barker

The office interior is incomplete without office furniture, and the latter must be in tune with the overall office design. It should also be ergonomically designed to make sure that employees develop no physical problems after prolonged use of the furniture.

An average employee spends more than thirty percent of his day in the office, and keeping in mind this, if the office furniture he or she is making use of is not comfortable and convenient to use, then the employee is likely to have recurring and possibly serious health issues. Thus it is vital for employers to ensure that office furniture, particularly office chairs, are designed to maximize employees' comfort.

Any purchase of office chairs must be made only after making sure of a few things. Stability, convenient mobility and adjustability are the three aspects that should influence your choice of office chairs. The arm rests should provide a comfortable hand placement when required and the vertical height should be adjustable according to the comfort of the occupant. The chair should not cause any obstruction for the occupant with respect to movement of hands and legs, as that might negatively impact his performance. The most crucial aspect of an office chair is its back support. It must give sufficient comfort to the occupant and create no stress to his or her spine, and it needs to be optimally cushioned and curved for this purpose.

The second most crucial element of office furniture is office desks. Their height must be just right and they must have adequate space to allow the employee to do both computer as well as paperwork. Small or crowded office desks are a real agony for the worker and his body also has to make certain unnatural adjustments during work that expose him to grave health hazards at a later stage.

Another important feature of office ergonomics is where the items of furniture have been put inside the office. For example, there must be ample alley area between workstations to allow for easy man and material mobility, such that it does not lead to any disturbance to a worker sitting at a workstation.

If the office furniture is ergonomically designed, the employees stay more effective and productive during office hours and also lead happier lives. An ergonomic workplace allows a worker to properly organise and manage his work and also creates a pleasant and stress free ambience.

Office design should always aim at complete absence of any bodily inconvenience inside the office, or at least lessening it to a bare minimum. The office interior must try to develop such working conditions in which employees can do their tasks in a very efficient fashion without any health issues, so that the business gets the benefits of a healthy and productive workforce.

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