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Workplace Quality Measures

Computer Health and Safety Tips:

With the increase use of computer, several health and safety issues related to vision, musculoskeletal issues, body aches and pains may occur and can be resolved by adopting simple corrective action:

Musculoskeletal Problems: This problem includes different areas of your body, such as neck, back, chests, arms shoulders and feet. It occurs because of your wrong posture, uncomfortable chair for sitting while working on the computer.
To avoid this problem, do the following:

  • Position of the monitor should be at your eye level.
  • Keep your monitor at least arm length distance, or 20 to 30 inch away from you.
  • Maximize contact of your back against the backrest of the chair.
  • Adjust height of armrests so that your elbows are at a 100-110 degrees open angle.
  • While typing, keep your hands slightly lower than elbows, with fingers pointing downwards at the floor.
  • Always take small breaks while working on the computer to stretch your muscles, keep your blood flowing, & to rest your eyes.

Occupational Overuse Syndrome: Occupational overuse syndrome, also known as repetition strain injury (RSI). It is a collective term for a range of conditions by discomfort or pain in muscles and other soft tissues, with or without physical expression. It is usually caused by work, with repetitive movement, sustained postures (निरंतर मुद्राएँ), and forceful movements and also stress in the working environment.

Strain (खिंचाव) in Legs and Feet: Sitting to work for long time may cause strain in legs. Make sure that there’s enough space to change position and stretch your legs.

Eye Strain: Computer’s bright light, glare and flickering images can cause eye strain and visual fatigue. When you constantly focus on screen, you forget about blinking your eyes that can cause of drying eyes. Computer Vision Syndrome is caused by poor lighting and glare on the computer screen.

Headaches: Headache may occur due to muscle tension or pain in the neck. Strain on the eyes or vision problem can also cause Headaches. Try to keep your neck straight in front of the computer and take breaks.

Obesity: Spending long hours on computers may lead lacks of physical activity and exercise that may cause obesity.

Injuries from Laptop Use: In laptop the screen and keyboard are very close together and there is really no right way to use a laptop because if you position the screen at the right height for your back and neck, it will cause you to have to lift your arms and shoulders too high to use it and vice versa.

Sleeping Problems: Artificial lighting from computer screens can trick your brain and suppress its “release of melatonin” substance that assists your sleeping patterns.

Health and Safety Requirements for Computer Workplace:

  • Display Screen (Monitor): The screen must be free of reflective glare and reflections liable to cause discomfort to the user.
  • Keyboard: It should tilt and separate from the screen to find a comfortable working. The space in front of the keyboard must be sufficient to provide support for the hands & arms of the user.
  • Work Surface: The work desk should be sufficiently large and allow a flexible arrangement of the screen, keyboard, documents and related equipment.
  • Work Chair: The work chair must be stable and allow the user to move easily and find a comfortable position.
  • Lighting Reflection and glare: Workstations should be designed so that sources of light, such as windows and others cause no direct glare and no distracting reflections on the screen.
  • Noise and Heat: Noise cancelling earphones may provide a solution if some noise is unavoidable. The equipment may not produce excess heat which could cause discomfort to users.