Healthy Home Office are providers of ergonomic furniture which is designed and crafted to provide furniture for the office or those who work from home to improve issues associated with poor posture and position when working at a desk.

It is not uncommon for individuals to spend most of their day sitting, but the style of furniture is often overlooked for both office workers and those who work remotely who may be using kitchen tables and chairs as a workspace.  This can cause considerable discomfort and long-term health problems associated with posture including back and shoulder pain.  It is an issue that individuals and businesses often overlook, due to being unaware of potential problems.

In the UK, businesses are estimated to have suffered from losing approximately 28 million working days a year (which can result in massive costs and inconvenience to businesses), plus an estimated cost to the country of over £5 billion annually.

Healthy Home Office recently carried out an online survey on the subject of these issue

Display Screen Equipment (DSE)

Did you know that If workers use (DSE) daily, as part of their normal work, continuously for an hour or more, employers must do a workstation assessment – It is a legal requirement! 

In the survey 33.3% responded that had never had an assessment and 24.2% had not had an assessment in the past 2 years (Total 57.5%)

Height Adjustable desks

Respondents were asked: If you have a height-adjustable desk how often do you adjust it?

  • 55% replied: Never
  • 37% replied: 1-3 times a day
  • 6% replied: 4-10 times a day
  • 2% replied 10+ times a day

Work-Related discomfort

In response to being asked if they had suffered from any work-related discomfort in the past 2 years?

  • 75% replied Yes
  • 25% replied No

Healthy Home Office believe that the replies show that there is a massive lack of understanding regarding work-related good practices and a lack of awareness regarding how to address any issues when staff are suffering from any form of work-related discomfort, and in many cases a simple lack of understanding regarding how to get the best out of your existing equipment.

They recommend businesses to ask the following questions of their staff and these also apply to those who work at home too:

  1. Do your staff know all of the adjustments on their chairs
  2. Are the desks the right height?
  3. Are they aware of the working areas on their desks?
  4. Are they fully aware of the best height and depth for their monitors?
  5. Are they aware of the 20/20/20 rule to help prevent eye strain?
  6. Are they aware of basic office ergonomics and good working practices?

Healthy Home Office can identify the best way to move forward to ensure that work related pain is reduced and risk kept to a minimum.

photo: pexels.com Peter Olexa