WORKSTATION DESIGN
The importance of workstation design increases with the amount of time
spent at the computer. As a general guide anyone who spends more than two hours
a day in front of a Video Display Terminal (VDT) should take special care to
ensure the workstation is user friendly.
The chair should be the first piece of furniture adjusted to fit the operator. Once the chair has been properly adjusted it should be used as a reference point for all further adjustments. With the feet firmly planted on the floor and the upper body in a neutral position, the monitor and keyboard position should then be adjusted. Finally additional computer accessories including pointing devices (i.e., mouse) wrist supports and copy holders should be correctly placed.
Computer users tend to spend most of their day seated. A chair should be
adjusted many times during the day. This will help to relieve muscle
tension in specific muscle groups while loading others. If the work surface
height is not adjustable, position the chair so that forearms are parallel to
the floor, while keying. Provide a foot rest to support the legs and reduce
strain on the lower back.
The monitor or screen of a computer should be positioned so that the top line
of text is slightly below eye level while seated. The monitor should be placed
directly in front of the worker, with a maximum of lateral angle of 30 .
Tilting the monitor so that the screen is vertical is also important as this
position may reduce glare.
The keyboard holder should be long enough to accommodate a pointing
device or mouse pad directly beside the keyboard and at the same height. It is
important that both the keyboard and the keyboard holder be kept as flat as
possible as this places the wrist in a more neutral position minimizing muscle
strain.
Foam pads placed in
front of the keyboard known as wrist supports remove sharp, uncomfortable
edges. Wrists should only be rested on the wrist support during pauses in
keying and should not be rested on the wrist support while the user is typing.
Copy holders are
recommended for individuals who perform input tasks from a source document.
Copy holders eliminate frequent neck movements caused from looking back and
forth between screen and paper, as well as continuous refocusing of the eyes.
The recommended illuminance at a VDT task area where data entry and
retrieval is performed exclusively is 750 lux. Where data entry and retrieval
is performed intermittently the recommended lighting level is 500 lux. Glare is
the main lighting concern when working with VDTs.
To reduce eye muscle fatigue frequently look away from the screen and
focus on a distant object.
Work practices can help reduce the risk of injury.
This includes proper job design which along with changes in job tasks,
should include frequent changes of posture. It is important to stand up, move
around, stretch and get away from computing tasks during the work day. Five
minutes away from the computer every hour.
