Before you buy an ergonomic office chair you need to know who benefits most.
It is ideal to buy ergonomic chairs for the whole team, however, if you must cut costs you need to at least buy a number of ergonomic chairs that cater for people who require comfortable seating because of their ailments.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Repetitive Strain Injury can result from years of office work in a seated environment. Therefore your office-dwelling employees are more likely to suffer from these ailments at some stage, alongside tired eyes and neck pain. All of these are a result of bad posture. This is where ergonomic chairs are very important.

Some people are taller or heavier or have a different torso to leg proportion than average. This makes sitting on a regular chair uncomfortable if the adjustable sections are limited. They develop ailments because regular chairs cannot provide the flexibility required to adjust a chair to their body. A good policy to avoid posture-related ailments is to have some basic guidelines for ergonomically correct workstations and test people as they are employed.

You may also want to ask new recruits about past postural ailments or injuries such as slip discs etc. and make sure you provide the right chair for their needs. You may also want to keep in mind that the longer one works the more important it is to have an ergonomic chair. In fact, it may be a good idea to reward your hardest-working employees with an ergonomic chair in order to help them avoid developing work-related injuries or ailments.

When testing a workstation for the ergonomic value you will want to remember the following:

1) The chair needs to be able to recline (110° and 130°) and lock in a comfortable reclined position

2)  Correct seat depth – when seated you need to have three inches distance between the back of your knees and the front edge of the seat.

3) Adjustable seat height

4) Adjustable Armrests

5) lumbar support

6) Screen height needs to be eye-level and around 20 to 30 inches away from your eyes

7) Wheels and swivel chair. Your office chairs need to swivel and have wheels, this reduces the chances of injury when reaching for something at your desk.

8) If your screens are too high or too low you can make up for this with an electronically adjustable desk.

So as you can see a healthy ergonomic workstation takes more than just a comfy chair. A soft seat is important but should be the least of your worries. You need to make sure that your chair and desk have as many moving adjustable parts as possible. This will help you adjust the workstation for any recruit, with any new ailment and will especially deliver the all-important message that your company cares.

Call Chris on [+356] 2138 2601 to receive information about the full range of ergonomic operative and executive chairs available at our showroom in Naxxar, Malta, or email chrisgatt@bsl-lifestyles.com.