A recent report by the Health and Safety Executive stated that 30 million working days were lost in 2006/07 due to illness. Of these 10.7 Million days were lost due to musculoskeletal disorders and 3.5 million were due to work related upper limb or neck disorders.
These are pretty frightening statistics and the cost to the economy and your business is horrific. Maybe it is time to consider some of the possible causes and make sure that your staff are healthy and at work.

One of the main causes of upper limb or neck disorders in the workplace is the use of poorly designed furniture that does not meet the needs of the user, and worker ignorance as to how to use the furniture correctly. The increased use of computers in the workplace has seen a corresponding increase in repetitive strain injuries and whilst many larger companies with HR departments and health and safety representatives take these issues seriously, many more small and medium size companies choose to ignore the issue completely.

We are often asked to visit clients who have an individual suffering back problems who has been told by their doctor they should have an ergonomic chair. The employer is then faced with the prospect of spending anything up to £700 or £800 on a chair for one individual and whilst this may be a necessary cost we see many cases where it is totally unnecessary. If you look around your office now you will see staff sitting on the edge of their seats, shoulders hunched, staring at the computer screen. If they are sitting on the edge of the seat the chair is providing no support whatsoever and they may as well sit on a box!

Provided you have given your staff well designed and good quality office chairs and shown them how to sit properly there are few cases where special chairs costing close to a thousand pounds are necessary. We do however always advise clients to spend as much as they can on seating as you definitely get what you pay for, up to a point. More importantly, please avoid the £30.00 mail order specials. They may be ok for little Johnny’s bedroom but not for a professional office.

And whilst you don’t need to buy a fancy expensive desk to create a good working environment you need to have an understanding of how to arrange the workspace in order to create a practical and comfortable area. Ensure that the computer screen is positioned directly in front of you and at a distance that does not cause eye strain; about 18 - 24 inches away should be fine. It should be possible to adjust the height of the screen to suit shorter or taller individuals and this can either be achieved with a monitor stand or a toolbar mounted monitor arm.

Make sure that the desk top is large enough to accommodate the work the individual is required to do. It should be possible to arrange your desk so that you can work comfortably without straining and that your papers, files etc are readily to hand. If necessary use a foot stool to enable you to sit comfortably and make sure you take regular breaks away from the desk just to stretch and move around.

Make it part of company policy to educate staff how best to use the office furniture they have. Provided they are using good quality seating and adequate size desking it just comes down to whether they are using it properly.