Is your monitor harming your health?

Chances are, anyone occupying London office space uses computers in most, if not all areas of productivity. We feel that there is an information deficit in the way that many choose to address this. Ergonomic considerations should be made when considering IT infrastructure and the way your office is fitted out.

You’ve probably come across some guidelines but many of them are full of jargon:

VDU, VDT, DSE or Monitor?
Actually, all of these things are exactly the same, the screen that sits on your desk.

People blame all manner of health problems on their monitors, such as short sightedness and eyestrain. The reality is that monitors do not affect your level of vision in terms of short or long sightedness. With the demise of CRT (Cathode Ray Tube – those old boxy things) monitors, eyestrain has been near eliminated, LCD (TFT or flatscreen) panels are a lot more friendly on the eyes. This is because on the old style monitors, the picture was constantly changing, even if nothing was changing on screen. With LCD monitors, the image is static until something changes. This means your eyes have to do a lot less work to keep up.

Real problems of computer use
The real issues with computer use mostly lie in terms of aches, pain and disorders such as repetitive strain injury. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, good ergonomics in the workplace are absolutely vital in terms of productivity, motivation, and even from a legal perspective.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no legal limit on how long you can work with a monitor, but you and your employees or colleagues do need to take regular breaks. This does not mean take time to stay seated, get your secretary to bring you a tea and check your Facebook. It means resurfacing for air, at the very least walking around to restart your circulation!

What you need to do

• Analyse your workstations, including all equipment and units.
• Work out system that makes breaks more realistic, use software to remind staff to move every so often if you have to!
• Communicate with your staff to work out any individual needs, particularly medical issues such as epilepsy or RSI sufferers.

You may recall the post on why choosing the right style of office is important. It touched on a frequently overlooked fundamental; ergonomics. Although the design of your office has a bearing on productivity, perhaps one of the most important aspects is ergonmics. Back problems are responsible for a large amount of work abscence and even as you are reading this now, there is a good chance your ergonomics could do with improvement.

We have put together a quick FindaLondonOffice guide to better ergonomics:

You don’t need to break the bank to improve your office space ergonomics, in any case, you can usually improve for free.

Computer Monitors

Place monitors a good distance away from seating, ideally, staff should keep their monitors at a minimum distance of 22 inches from their eyes.

Tilt monitors slightly up from the bottom. The top of the monitor should be further away from your eyes than the bottom as this will reduce both eye strain and neck discomfort.

Consider switching to LCD (flat panel) monitors if you happen to still have any old CRT ones in use. CRT monitors refresh their image constantly, a slow refresh rate can cause eye strain and headaches. If you absolutely must use CRT monitors, set the refresh rate as high as possible, 75Hz or higher is ideal. In any case, ensure that the resolution, brightness and contrast settings are optimised so that the picture is sharp and sufficiently bright.

Lighting

It is important to get sufficient levels of lightning. A well designed office space incorporates suitable lighting through use of ambient and natural light. This has been proven to boost brainpower in comparison to artificial sources of light.

For spaces with a plethora of workstations, softer background lighting is ideal to reduce glare.

Stationary and Utilities

Arranging tools so they are easily accessible sounds simple enough, however, moving a printer can be enough to save several hours over the course of a few months. Consider the location of all your tools.

Foot position

Use a footrests or even small boxes. Feet should be firmly planted on the floor and knees should be slightly higher than chair seats.

90% of Microsoft employees said their office space design had a direct bearing on their productivity.