Workplace Study Reveals Which Furniture Affects Employee Health
PRESS RELEASE
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Grand Haven, MI—Dec 22, 2008—Good chairs can help employees even more than you might think. Keyboard trays, on the other hand, often don't help as promised. Benefits of both depend largely on proper usage.
These are just some of the surprises in Atlas Ergonomics' most recently released white paper, "Office Ergonomics Trends Part II: Relationship between Products and Discomfort."
Atlas analyzed the results of 2441 randomly drawn employee surveys to determine the impact of specific products and furniture on worker discomfort. Ergonomic chairs demonstrated solid potential to reduce work-related discomfort when the correct features were specified. Conversely, keyboard trays illustrated inconsistent impact on discomfort, indicating that individual work habits were more influential than the product. With most products, understanding proper usage dramatically improved employee discomfort.
Atlas also compared the results of the employee surveys to questionnaire data from 80 health, safety and ergonomics professionals, revealing some unexpected misconceptions among the professionals, such as the belief that laptop users would experience higher levels of discomfort versus desktop users - the actual results did not agree with this opinion.
Business invests millions of dollars annually on ergonomic furniture and accessories, based on the features of the items and promised benefits. Understanding the real value of products in the real-world workplace can dramatically reduce on-the-job injuries, which can drastically reduce treatment, rehabilitation and insurance costs, along with productivity losses.
"In certain cases, opinions and decisions on product and furniture recommendations may be validated and justified," says David Brodie, Atlas director of ergonomic services. "However, this research clearly shows that, in many cases, current opinions held by many professionals need to be modified to achieve maximal success in reducing injuries."
"Office Ergonomics Trends Part II: Relationship between Products and Discomfort" is the second of three separate white papers based on multi-faceted research into the relationship between products, furniture, and work-related discomfort. Recommendations and conclusions provided in the report are designed to help anyone addressing ergonomics concerns in the office environment.
A copy of the white paper is available for free from Atlas Ergonomics by requesting a copy of the document at http://www.atlasergo.com/about_contact.aspx.
About Atlas Ergonomics, LLC
Atlas Ergonomics, LLC is a leading ergonomic service and technology provider, helping customers reduce the spiraling costs of work related injuries within industrial, office, commercial transportation, public transit, and healthcare environments. Atlas guides clients to financially evaluate and define the appropriate strategy, and offers services that are uniquely simple, measurable, and cost effective. Atlas Ergonomics provides turnkey support through a nationwide network of providers or can assist corporate resources with the necessary training and technology. Atlas Ergonomics is located in Grand Haven, Michigan, and additional information can be found at www.atlasergo.com.
