Ergonomic Assessment

2007 Assessment Statistics

During 2007 Healthywork Ltd conducted in excess of 350 Ergonomic Assessments. An audit has been conducted to establish what the most common recommendations have been.

An Audit of 50 random cases was conducted during 2008 by reviewing the assessment reports.

42% were found to be sitting too low to the desk and the work tasks they were performing. The chairs were raised to the correct height, depending on the gas stem height adjustability of the chairs.

20% had no arm rests on their office chair. For 22% the arm rests were too far apart for their build and another 20% were not using their arm rests, as they were incorrectly positioned.

Therefore 62% were not gaining necessary forearm support from chair arm rests.

For 18% the lumbar support was not at the correct height. Another 8% did not have lumbar support available on their chair.

90% of the individuals required an alternative model chair and of those 32% required a more specialist chair than their own chair supplier could provide.

26% needed their monitor screen raising to the correct height, once they were sitting at the correct sitting height to the desk.

44% needed to move their keyboard and mouse closer so that they were sitting and working in a better posture.

76% required a sliding writing and reading work surface which could be moved over the keyboard so that all of the work tasks were at the correct height and directly in front of them.

20% of the cases were a follow up assessment, after having had an initial assessment. Therefore equipment had been provided and the follow up was to ensure they were set up correctly and review progress. 

Case Study: Office Ergonomics and Manual Handling Training Session in Northamptonshire

The Need: To minimise sickness and ensure the effective running of their busy enquiry office in Northampton, the telephonists needed to be aware of health risks and trained in reducing impact. The department manager was concerned that all statutory training was being fulfilled.

The Objective: To ensure staff were fully trained and working in an environment which supported them both mentally and physically in the meeting the demands of their job.

The Solution: Training sessions in Office Ergonomics and Object Handling were arranged for all of the staff in the department in the office based in Northampton. These were carried out over 4 sessions with several staff members attending each session at a time, thus ensuring that the phones were still adequately covered by other staff.

The sessions included identifying and reducing risk factors by providing detail on posture and seating, what to do if you have pain or an injury, prevention of manual handling and safe handling processes.

It was useful for the staff to discuss the problems as a group and find solutions together.

Issues relating to work processes and procedures, seating comfort and provision of other work equipment were discussed.

Following the sessions, verbal feedback was given to the manager along with a written report on Manual Handling risk areas. Individual workstations were assessed and the recommendations made. The impact of hot desking was also taken into consideration. Ensuring that staff with specific medical issues were given suitable adjustments was also conducted, which then led to specialist ergonomic assessments and provision of more individual advice and equipment.

The Result: All of the staff had received their statutory training and knew how to get advice and support if any issues arose in the future. The workstations were new desking, so alterations were made at little cost. More ergonomic chairs were required for all staff as the previous chairs were 10 years old. Advice on the recommended type of chair was given.