0. WHS Principles

Tips for choosing office chairs

If you need to purchase or replace chairs for the office, a good chair for using a computer should have:

• adjustment controls that are easy to operate while you’re sitting

• a load rating suitable for your body weight. Standard chairs may only accept up to 120kgs, so check the chair’s weight range is correct for you

• a backrest with a curved lumbar support that can be adjusted to fit into the curve of your lower back

• a backrest that can tilt forwards and backwards

• a well cushioned chair that supports the majority of your thigh length and body width

• an adjustment for seat height

• an adjustment to tilt the seat pan

• a seat with a rounded front edge

• a five-point caster base.

Armrests can support your forearms when using the keyboard and mouse or help you to lower or raise yourself from your chair. However, armrests should be removable and adjustable to allow you to get in as close to your desk as possible.

Read more on selecting and purchasing office chairs.

Tips for adjusting your chair

• The first step is to adjust the height of your chair so that your elbows are level with the desk surface. This gives you forearm support and relaxed shoulders when you’re using the keyboard and mouse.

• Use a footrest if you are unable to place your feet flat on the floor.

• Adjust the height of your backrest so that the lumbar support fits into the curve of your lower back.

• Ensure your chair fits your width and leg length with clearance of approximately two to three fingers span behind your knee to allow for adequate leg movement.

• Tilt the backrest support so that you can relax back into the chair with a hip angle between 100 and 120 degrees.

• Bring the chair in close to the desk so that your forearms are well supported on the desk and your back stays supported on the backrest i.e. no leaning or perching off the backrest. Remove armrests if they stop you from getting close enough to your desk.

Tips for setting up your workstation

• If you’re working for long periods of time from a laptop or tablet, ideally you should use a separate monitor, keyboard and mouse. This will help your posture and visual comfort.

• Set the monitor height to your eye level or below, depending on what type of glasses you wear. If you don’t have a monitor available, raise your laptop on a riser, stand, or another stable item such as reams of paper or large hardcover books.

• Ideally, set up your monitor distance at about an arm’s length from where you're sitting. You can adjust the distance depending on the size of the monitor screen and what’s comfortable for your eyes.

• If you use two or more monitors equally throughout the day, position yourself and your keyboard at equal distance to both screens so you don’t have to twist your neck and spine. Also make sure the monitors are both at the same level.

• Put your keyboard and mouse on a flat surface, directly in front of you about 10 to 15cms from the edge of the desk. This provides you with forearm shoulder and neck support. Keep your mouse next to and parallel to the keyboard as much as possible. This will reduce shoulder discomfort. Different keyboards and mouse designs can be more comfortable and useful for different workers.

• After adjusting your chair, use a footrest if your feet can’t comfortably sit flat on the floor. Check its height so your hips and knees are level. It should be stable and large enough to comfortably rest both feet and sloped for ankle comfort.

• Wireless headsets and earphones allow you to work on your computer during phone calls easily. They also allow you to stand up and move around during and between phone and video calls. Use an angled document holder if you often do tasks that involve significant reading or writing from hard copy documents.

If you have ongoing back pain or a known medical condition, speak to your employer about arranging an ergonomic assessment by a provider who can assist with your specific requirements.

Tips for choosing a desk

• The desk surface should allow you to have your keyboard, mouse and writing needs all on the same level.

• A fixed sitting desk should be between 680–720mm high and, if height adjustable, up to 1200mm.

• A desk depth of 800mm will allow you to correctly position your monitors and have a comfortable amount of leg room.

• You should have clear space under the desk to comfortably stretch out your legs and avoid sharp desk corners.

Sit/stand desks

Using a sit/stand desk is a simple way to change postures when you’re doing computer work. Getting out of your chair and moving regularly is important to avoid aches and pains and to improve your health and wellbeing.

• A full desk unit, where the whole desktop can be raised or lowered, is generally easier to use.

• A tabletop unit, which is a separate unit placed on top of a normal fixed desk, is usually cheaper and quicker to install. However, some issues with tabletop units include:

  • limited space for desk top items and work activities

  • not enough space and stability to rest your forearms in front of the keyboard

  • not suitable for taller workers who require greater desktop depth

  • cords being caught in the height adjustment mechanism.

Tips for selecting sit/stand desks

• The desktop should be able to rise to at least 1200mm to suit taller workers.

• The design of the sit/stand desk should be able to accommodate all required equipment, for example two monitors, a keyboard and a place to write.

• You should consider how awkward and how much effort is required to move manually operated desks or units along with all usual desktop items.

There is no evidence that anti-fatigue mats make you more comfortable than wearing suitable footwear. They can also be a manual handling and trip hazard. Supportive shoes, compression stockings and changing position from standing to sitting regularly can be more beneficial to prevent musculoskeletal or vascular symptoms from prolonged standing.

Tips for using a sit/stand desk

• When moving your desktop to a standing position, make sure it is at the same level as your elbow so that your forearms are supported.

• When you move from sit to stand you may need to adjust your monitor height.

• Aim to change your posture every 30 minutes. Standing for a long time can also cause problems.

• Have a safe place for your chair when you’re standing up, so you or others don’t trip on it.

• If you’re pregnant, or have a pre-existing musculoskeletal problem, moderate your sitting and standing times to suit yourself.

• Wear low-heeled or flat, supportive shoes when standing

Using digital devices can contribute to visual fatigue and discomfort such as headaches and sore eyes.

You may also find yourself in more awkward postures so you can properly see your work, which can lead to neck pain and injury.

Your eyes need to work harder if:

• the screen is too close or too far

• you’re working in poor lighting

• there’s excessive glare, which is commonly due to light shining directly into your eyes or reflected from other surfaces such as the screen, desktop or walls

• you need to see fine details

• you need to maintain focus for long periods.

Tips to help visual problems

• Lighting should let you comfortably see your work tasks through different times of your work shift.

• Test your vision regularly if you're having any visual difficulties.

• Make sure your eyewear is up to date and suitable for working at the computer.

• Check that your monitor brightness, contrast and font size is adjusted for your visual comfort.

• Use a light-coloured background on your display.

• Clean your screens regularly.

• Minimise tilting your screen to reduce potential glare or reflection.

• Look at objects further away from time to time and take regular breaks away from your screen so your eyes can refocus and moisten back to normal.

Your work environment

• Keep your work area and access ways clean and clear of clutter, spills, leads, cords and loose mats.

• Make sure your flooring is in good condition.

• Make sure you’ve got enough lighting for the tasks you’ll be doing and that it’s easy to see and comfortable on your eyes.

• Check that you can control glare and reflections.

• Your work area should be well ventilated, and you should be able to control the temperature whatever season it is.

• Have emergency phone numbers easily at hand.

• Keep the way from your workspace to outdoors clean and clear in case of fire.

• Have a suitable first-aid kit handy.

• Have a fire extinguisher or blanket to extinguish any minor fires.

• Smoke detectors should be installed and maintained according to guidelines.

• Inspect all electrical equipment and make sure there’s no cuts, nicks, exposed conductors or visible damage to the equipment or its electrical cabling.

• Make sure you have safety switches installed or you can use a residual current device.

• You commit to doing a push button test of all safety switches when you start and every three months.

• You must not overload power points.

Staying in touch

You might feel isolated when you’re working from home so it’s important to communicate regularly with your employer and work mates. Talk with your employer about:

• how you’re going to stay in touch with your work team, clients and other work contacts

• and how you can stay up to date with news from your organisation and work team and other updates, training and opportunities.

Your workstation set up

Your workstation setup can help reduce the chance of musculoskeletal injuries, neck and back pain and chronic diseases like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. It should support you to have a good posture and to change your posture often.

You can find out more about:

• selecting and adjusting your chair

• setting up your workstation

• visual comfort for computer work

• staying active while working on your computer

• mobile computer work.

Deciding workload and security

Be clear about what work you’ll do from home including:

• activities

• expectations

• work schedule.

Think about how you and your employer will review the working from home arrangement. This might include:

• regular meetings

• reports

• reviewing diary and work outcomes

• managing work boundaries.

If you’re taking work-related material home, you need to consider how you’ll keep it secure—physically and online. You’ll also need to consider how you can get information technology support when you need it.

Managing risks and responsibilities

It's important to remember that your home office is still a place of work:

• employers have the primary duty of care and must do what is reasonably practicable to ensure the health and safety of their workers

• workers also have an obligation to take care of their own health and safety and to follow the health and safety policies, procedures and instructions that their employers put in place.

As part of your working from home agreement, your employer should give you:

• information covering the risks and controls that come with computer-based work

• ​information on how to report discomfort, hazards, injuries or incidents.

Mobile computer work presents more challenges to keep safe postures.

Find out how to improve comfort and safety when you're working on the road or out of the office.

Working on the road or out of the office presents more challenges to keep safe postures. Trains, cars, hotels, cafes, libraries or client sites are not ideal places for you to work for long periods of time on your device. Even occasional mobile computer work can still create pain and injury, especially in your shoulder, neck, back and wrist.

​Tips for improving your comfort and safety

Find out before arriving at your location if you can sit and work at a table and a chair, ideally adjustable, with good back support. If this isn’t available, think about booking places such as co-working office space, libraries or hot desking at client sites. Here’s some other tips for improving your comfort and safety when you’re working on the road or out of the office.

Your equipment

Take only portable gear that you need, such as:

• a light-weight laptop or tablet

• a folding, lightweight laptop riser to raise your screen height

• a separate compact keyboard and wireless mouse

• a backpack or wheeled bag to carry your work items

• headset/earphones to allow you to move around when on a phone or video call

As a mobile worker, simply carrying your equipment around can be an issue that leads to pain and injury. Use equipment that is easy to pack and carry and have a suitable backpack or pull-along bag to carry your gear.

Your setup

When you’re out on location, rather than working from your car, find a flat surface that is suitable to set up and a chair with a backrest.

For a better setup when using your device:

• raise your laptop screen higher with books or firm pillows

• use a rolled towel or jumper in the small of your back for lumbar support

• sit on a folded towel if the table is too high for you

• rest your feet on a backpack or rolled towels to support your feet

• reduce eye strain by keeping your screen clean

• adjust screen brightness, contrast and font size

• move your screen to avoid working with sunlight or glare directly on it.

Reduce time using your keyboard

• Use voice to text recognition or voice activated software, for example dictate content and then edit using keyboard.

• Use voice commands.

• Use shortcuts or hot keys.

• Only do essential computer work when on the road.

• Think about how you can do work without typing, for example making phone calls instead of emails.

• Use a stylus pen and touchscreen for data entry when working onsite, for example when you’re doing inventory checks.

Staying active

Sitting for too long is not good for anyone, particularly when you’re not working in an ideal setup. It’s important to take frequent breaks and change your posture as much as possible. Depending on what you are doing and how hunched over you are, a break at least every 30 minutes can help manage your posture, visual, mental and physical fatigue. Vary your posture as much as you can, for example standing up when making phone calls.

Tips for buying equipment for mobile use

Choose equipment that suits your stature:

• Taller workers need to make sure the laptop riser will adjust high enough so they can be in an upright posture and meet their visual needs.

• Workers with larger hands may find a larger mouse will be more comfortable and less effort to use.

• Shorter workers using a wide keyboard might have shoulder discomfort on their mouse arm. A compact keyboard may be better.