“There are several common workplace habits that pose significant health risks,” says Jonathan Puleio, the global vice president of award-winning ergonomic office essentials Humanscale Consulting. According to him, prolonged sitting in sedentary postures, forward-leaning, and inappropriate keyboard, mouse, and monitor height are all guilty of contributing to that shoulder knot or back pain you’re probably suffering after a hard day’s work at the office.
This writer can relate. With the computer as my primary work tool, I write wherever the wind takes me – the office table, the coffee table at the cafe, my lap, or even on the floor. All places I doubt have a positive ergonomic effect on my physical wellbeing.
Humanscale’s work tools are designed to help intensive computer users improve their comfort and work performance. For the home, it is important to focus on solutions that can be used immediately and require little to no assembly,” says Puleio. “For example, home-based laptop users can quickly improve their head and neck posture with our height-adjustable laptop holder, seated comfort and promote movement with our line of footrests, or visual comfort with our line of LED task lights.”
With computer reliance and use at an unprecedented all-time high, the experts at Humanscale warn that such prolonged usage can only lead to musculoskeletal disorders. An office’s setup goes shouldn’t be concerned by mere aesthetics and should take ergonomic design into consideration as well. “Employers should not underestimate the long-term implications of poor workstation design on employee health and performance. When discomfort is ignored, pain and injury are likely to follow,” says Puleio.
Due to the ongoing global pandemic, Humanscale is currently adapting their services aimed at helping others to maximise their workspace ergonomics, especially organisations who are trying to offer the work from home culture as a new addition to the new normal corporate culture.
“We have just upgraded our online self-assessment system, ergoIQ, to provide guidance on traditional non-adjustable household chairs. We also recently launched an online consultation platform called ergoIQ Live, which connects home workers with board certified ergonomists via web conferencing,” says Puleio.
“Humans, just like machines require regular maintenance and care to perform their best. Just as it would be somewhat shortsighted to expect a car to run forever without frequent oil changes, it would be equally shortsighted to expect a work population to thrive in environments with well documented health risks. In my opinion, failure to take proactive steps to eliminate risk borders on recklessness. Long term, the cost of inaction far exceeds the cost of implementing change.”
Here are some tips from Puleio to make immediate improvements to your workstation:
- Setting your monitor height such that the top line of text is at or slightly below eye level is recommended for accommodating your natural -15 degree downward viewing gaze.
- Positioning your monitor at an arm’s reach while tilting the screen away from your body will optimise visual comfort.
- Aligning your keyboard and mouse with your seated elbow height will significantly reduce shoulder, hand and wrist discomfort.
- Bringing your keyboard and mouse closer to your body and using the backrest of your chair will dramatically improve seated comfort.
In Malaysia, Humanscale is available at XTRA Furniture located at The Garden Mall, Kuala Lumpur.
