The Ideal Work Station:
Guidelines for Computer Station Equipment and Set-Up

Temporary Measures

Enough money is not always available to buy ideal equipment and furniture. With this in mind, the following temporary measures can help to make use of existing furniture and equipment. We strongly emphasize, however, the need to eventually get the fully adjustable items described above.

Single-operator temporary measures

If the work station is used regularly by only one operator, some of the adjustability features outlined above are less important:

• Monitor height adjustment can be set for the single operator. Instead of using a counter-balanced monitor platform, inexpensive stacking plastic platforms or even books or boxes will work.
• Existing, non-adjustable arm rests can be used if they can be padded to make them soft enough and still bring them to the proper height to achieve neutral shoulder posture.
• If arm rests without horizontal adjustment still allow the operator's elbows to rest close to the body, this adjustment is not crucial. However, for small operators or wide chairs, horizontal adjustability is highly desirable.
• If the existing chair pan depth allows the operator to sit back in the chair, using the back support, without pressure on the back of the knees, adjustable seat pan depth may not be necessary. Attention must be paid to the extremes. For the taller employee, a short and non-adjustable seat pan depth may not provide enough support and may cause a feeling of "perching". For the shorter employee, the seat front may compress leg vessels and nerves when the lumbar support is being properly used.

Non-adjustable keyboards

Even if an adjustable keyboard tray is not an original part of the desk, there are several good retrofit trays available. These can be attached to the underside of an existing desk top, after removing the center drawer. If such a device cannot be bought immediately, some temporary (and much less desirable) approaches are possible. Sometimes the chair can be raised enough so that the keyboard can be put inside the center drawer or on the old typewriter platform, while still maintaining a neutral wrist posture. In either case, make sure that the monitor and chair can be in line with the keyboard. If the keyboard must be placed on the existing desk surface, an existing fixed height keyboard tray or any of the substitute surfaces noted above, the following accommodations must be made.

• Follow the same chair adjustment procedures outlined in Section B., with these changes. First, adjust arm-rest height for neutral shoulder posture. Then set the height of the chair so the forearms are roughly parallel to the floor when the hands are placed at the keyboard. Finally, select a foot-rest that allows comfortable support of the feet, avoiding pressure from the front of the seat pan on the back of the thigh.
• Try supports of various heights under the front of the keyboard to achieve the negative tilt that will bring the wrist into a neutral posture. This adjustment may then require a slight re-adjustment in the seat height.

Seat height and lumbar support angle

There is no acceptable substitute for adjustability of seat height; this adjustment is crucial for attaining neutral posture in all joints. It is possible to partly compensate for a poorly designed chair back by use of foam lumbar supports, which attach to the existing back with straps or Velcro. Properly adjusted, these will give better lumbar support; they will not, however, allow the reduction in spinal compressive forces that a backward tilt achieves.

See also:

The Ideal Work Station: Equipment and Furniture

The Ideal Work Station: Adjusting the Work Station