Let’s face it, not many of us think very much about chairs. Unless, of course, we are the office procurement official who signs off on all the latest furniture purchases. But for the most part, chairs are just pieces of furniture that we seem to take for granted. If there is a desk, we just expect a chair to be there with it.

[Image courtesy of Darren Johnson from Flickr via a Creative Commons license]In some offices, having the right chair can make a lot of difference. Ergonomics is a relatively new field, but it can play an important role in keeping workers at work and healthy. Who knew sitting could be so much work?

OK, we can admit that as safety professionals, we generally do not give chairs all that much thought, either. However, with all of the studies and research that have been done on the human body and how it can function more efficiently, maybe we safety officers should look more at the chairs in our workplaces. Perhaps no longer do we need to just ensure that a chair has four legs and all of them are firmly on the ground to determine their safety. What we are talking about now is the relatively new study of ergonomics.

With ergonomics becoming more prominent as a consideration in many offices and work spaces – from keyboards and mouses to chairs and desks – it may become possible that safety officers may take over some of the procurement duties, since the selection of ergonomic furniture is not just about style or function, it’s about comfort and efficiency of the human body as it uses the furniture. If a body is not efficient and is not in the proper positioning to perform everyday tasks, the body is stretched and strained in ways that are not natural, and that over a consistent time period can lead to physical problems later such as back pain or stiffness, carpal tunnel syndrome and other ligament or muscle issues that may impair workers and keep them away from work.

Without good ergonomics, even a sitting job can be hard work because of the discomfort and unnatural positioning of your body. Sitting could indeed be hard work!

But as a safety officer, do you know much about ergonomics? You know, it’s OK if you don’t. There are now professionals in the field of occupational therapy and … wait for it … ergonomics. Yes, there are people called “ergonomists,” who are educated and trained professional experts in human body efficiency and can serve as consultants for your office when you are ready to procure some new furniture for your workplace.

Before you really get into buying new chairs or ergonomic keyboards or mice, it might be a good idea to take a look at your overall heath and safety reports and check for trends with your various illnesses and injuries and work with a ergonomist to provide a consultation abut whether getting ergonomic furniture  would actually contribute  to alleviating  the most common physical problems. In other words, if you are going to invest in this furniture (because ergonomic furniture is generally more expensive), will the investment pay for itself in increased productivity and reduced absenteeism? If you’re replacing 100 percent of the chairs when only about 10 percent of your workers have back problems that have cost them work time, would that be a worthy expense, or would you need to look more at other safety protocols you have in place to address back issues that may be more cost-effective? An ergonomist could help make that decision.

So after you do that and you make the decision to move forward, what do you look for  in a properly ergonomic chair? It seems that many chairs that say they are ergonomic seem very different from each other – how do you find the best fit for your office staff? I’ll cover some of the basics in selecting the right furniture in the next post.

But keep that ergonomist handy. Maybe on your speed dial, in fact.