Ergonomic furniture – a must for long-term homeworkers
Research published in March by Currys PC World, in collaboration with Canon, found that many UK employees working from home still don’t have their own office space, with 27% working from the living room and one-in-10 working from the kitchen.
Such working environments are not ergonomically optimised and, in the long-term, could lead to tiredness and work-related injuries, such as shoulder or muscle strains, which are painful and can impact on productivity.
It means that, with working from home set to be a long-term arrangement for many employees – either full-time or part-time split between home and the office, the issue of having ergonomically-designed office furniture at home is as important as ever.
“Ergonomics is all about enhancing your performance through good design whilst also keeping you safe and healthy,” says Simon Howorth, marketing and design manager at DAMS. “What this means is that you need to take a bird’s eye view of the space you now find yourself working in and identify what is working and what’s not. You don’t need to evaluate your workspace every day to within an inch of its life, but you should certainly be considering how you generally feel, day-to-day.
“For instance, for a chair to support and fit you properly there are some key features you need to consider – height adjustment, good seat depth, lockable back with lumbar support, adjustable armrests and dynamic chair adjustment which allows you to move in the chair whilst being supported. At Dams we believe that everybody deserves a good office chair which has the movement and positioning capabilities to enable people to sit comfortably, while at the same time encouraging productivity by seamlessly supporting the body during work activities.”
