Computer Health - General Guidance

• Introduction
• Why is the College Concerned
• Dont Ignore the Syptoms
• Adjusting Your Workstation to Suit You
• Office Environment
• Example of Workstation Set-up
• Further Information
• Download Word version of Guidance 

Introduction

These Guidance Notes provide important information for anyone who works with computers. They:

• Give a brief summary of Regulations explaining how they are applied at College and how they may affect you;
• Suggest some simple adjustments that can be made to your workstation and screen to make them more comfortable and easy to use;
• Answer the questions that are most commonly asked about Computers and health.

WHY IS COLLEGE CONCERNED?

More and more people are using computers and inevitably we are seeing people in college who are experiencing health problems, notably affecting the hands and arms. This is usually caused by prolonged use of the keyboard and mouse coupled with unsatisfactory workstation layout and/or poor keyboard or mouse technique.

What has College done to ensure your health is protected?

The College has developed a specific policy on work with computers. You can see a copy of the Policy and its Code of Practice on the Occupational Health (OH) web page on the College intranet system. These documents outline responsibilities, standards and procedures to maintain healthy working conditions. To assist you, as a computer user, the College has implemented a number of things pertaining to training and general computer health and safety.

The following applies to everyone using a computer at College:

• Workstation assessments - Everyone should do an assessment of their own workstation and to assist you there is a checklist for you to work through which can be printed off the OH page on the College intranet system. Each Department has at least one person trained to assess computer workstations and equipment and they will help you sort out what measures are necessary to reduce any risks that you may have identified in the assessment of your workstation.
• Minimum workstation requirements - These are mainly features to ensure that individuals can adjust and organise their workstations to suit their particular needs. Details of the requirements are given in the College's computer Code of Practice.
• Provide information - This should cover what an employer has done to comply with the Regulations, such as the action taken to reduce the risks and arrangements for breaks. These Guidance Notes and the College's computer Policy and Code of Practice provide this information.

If you are a member of staff at Imperial and use a computer for a significant amount of time for work purposes, then you may be classed as a significant user. The full definition of a significant user can be found in the Computer Health and Safety Handbook or by clicking here. If you are classed as a significant user then you will also be entitled to the following:

• Eye and eyesight tests - Any member of staff who uses a computer regularly in their normal work can have eye test carried out by an optician, paid for by their department. For more information, contact your local OH Service or view Eye Tests for Computer Work.
• Provide health and safety training - This is to make sure 'Users' can use all aspects of their workstation equipment safely, and know how to make best use of it to avoid health problems. The College's Safety and OH Advisors run one or two 'micro-workshops' around the College every term. There are also training courses for specific software packages and there use. Details of workshops can be found in the College Training Programme.
   

What about work at home?

Provided that it is an agreed part of your usual work, periods of computer work at home should be taken into account when deciding if you are a 'specified user'. If your computer equipment used at home is supplied by College, it is required that a workstation assessment be carried out. It is also recommended that where possible, your personal computer equipment be set up to similar standards as that of your work equipment, to prevent you developing any health problems. 

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Don't Ignore The Symptoms

If your arms or shoulders start aching/tingling, take a break and then reorganise your work to give yourself more breaks in the future and reorganise your workstation to ensure that your equipment is correctly set-up for you. If symptoms persist or keep occurring then you should contact the experts.

Who are the experts:

1. Your department will have a DSE Assessor who knows about computer ergonomics & can help you check your workstation. They'll help you with the computer checklist if you do not feel confident enough to complete it yourself. They will also assist you if you identify problems through the checklist which you can't solve yourself or which may affect your or others safety.
2. The College Safety Unit holds regular health & safety training sessions for computer users. Contact your DSE assessor or the Safety Unit  for details.
3. If you are unable to solve the problem by re-organising your workstation and are experiencing difficulties, your local Occupational Health Service can assess and advise on how to overcome them.

Adjusting Your Workstation To Suit You

You should make full use of the adjustment facilities for your computer and work environment to get the best from them and avoid potential health problems. Here are some useful tips:

A. Workstation Set-up:

Tip A1: Adjust your chair and computer to find the most comfortable position for your work. As a broad guide, your arms should be approximately horizontal and your eyes at the same height as the top of the computer casing.

Two: If, with the chair set at the correct height feet cannot be placed flat on the floor, ask for a footrest. A footrest will be provided for you if required.

Tip A2: Make sure there is enough space underneath your desk to move your legs freely. Move any obstacles such as boxes or equipment.

Tip A3: Position your screen at a comfortable viewing position, height and distance. As a general rule, the top of the screen should be roughly at eye level. The screen should be positioned at about 350 - 600 mm away from you. Adjusting the swivel and tilt mechanism will allow a comfortable viewing angle and will help avoid neck muscles becoming fatigued.

Tip A4: Adjust your keyboard and screen to get a good keying and viewing position. A space in front of the keyboard is sometimes
helpful for resting the hands and wrists while not keying.

Tip A5: You should ensure that you sit 'face on' to your computer screen. This will avoid you twisting your body and placing unnecessary strain on muscles and tendons.

Tip A6: Arrange your desk and screen so that bright lights are not reflected in the screen. You shouldn't be directly facing windows or bright lights. Adjust curtains or blinds to prevent unwanted light. Ideally your screen should be at 90 degrees to the source of the reflection / glare. Screens that use dark characters on a light background are less prone to glare and reflection. If these measures do not work then you should consider anti-glare screen filters.

B. Workstation use:

Tip B1: Don't sit in the same position for long periods. Make sure you change your posture as often as practicable. Some movement is desirable, but avoid repeated stretching movements.

Tip B2: Screen-based work should be broken up by other tasks such as filing, photocopying, etc. Computer work should be organised so that you do not work for periods of one hour or more on a computer without a change to some other work or a 5 minute rest break. This is especially important if the computer work is particularly intensive or requires a high degree of concentration. It is recommended that you should have a break of at least 5 minutes for every hour spent doing screen-based work.

Tip B3: With the chair set to the correct height it should not be too high to create pressure under your thighs nor too low to give no thigh support. As a rough guide, your knees should be at right angles. Remember about a footrest if you cannot touch the floor.

Tip B4: The seat back height should be adjusted to provide support for the small of your back when you are sitting erect but comfortable. Seat back height adjustment should be independent of chair height adjustment and is often adjusted by loosening control to rear of chair. Adjust to correct height and then re-tighten control.

Tip B5: Be aware of your posture at all times. Don't slouch as this could lead to back problems.

Tip B6: Make sure the characters on your screen are sharply focused and can be read easily. They shouldn't flicker or move. If they do then you should get your screen serviced or replace it.

Tip B7: Make sure there are no layers of dirt, grime or finger marks on the screen (or your glasses, if you wear them.)

Tip B8: Use the brightness control on the screen to suit the lighting conditions in the room. These controls can be found on the lower front side of the monitor itself.

Tip B9: Don't bend your hands up at the wrist when keying. Try to keep a soft touch on the keys and don't overstretch your fingers. Good keyboard technique is important. Don't rest your forearms on the edge of your desk as this can lead to health problems in the forearms.

Tip B10: Ensure that you use your mouse correctly. The mouse should be positioned close to your body to avoid excessive reaching to operate it. Your fingers should be placed down the body of the mouse to reduce movement at the knuckles and operation should be from the elbow to limit bending and twisting at the wrist.

Tip B11: Try different layouts of keyboard, screen and document holder to find the best arrangement for you.

Tip B12: Make sure you have enough workspace to take whatever documents you need. A document holder may help you to avoid awkward neck movements. 

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C. Office Environment

C1. Temperature, Ventilation and Humidity

Individuals will have different tolerances for these environmental factors. However, task, work volume, clothing and your health all affect the temperature at which you feel comfortable. Office environments should not be lower than 16 degrees Centigrade. You should avoid locating a workstation where temperature problems are foreseeable. Consider local variations e.g. a workstation adjacent to a south facing window may be much warmer than the same set-up located in an area away from the window or a self closing mechanism on a door next to a workstation may prevent the DSE user suffering from unpleasant draughts.
Extremely dry air can cause discomfort to the eyes of DSE users. Excessive humidity is also unpleasant. Build up of static electricity is also more likely in areas of low humidity.

Tip C1: Temperature, air flow and humidity are environmental factors that require particular attention when planning computer clusters. Additional environmental control in the form of a potable fan or air conditioning may be required. One or two potted houseplants may help to control low humidity, in addition to making the room seem pleasant.

C2. Noise

In open plan/shared offices background noise may be distracting to DSE users and may contribute to reduced efficiency or errors. Noise levels experienced at a work station should not be sufficiently high as to cause unreasonable distraction. This will again be subject to individual tolerances.

Tip C2: Noisy equipment (i.e.: dot matrix printers, photocopy machines, etc.) may need to be placed behind screens to limit noise or placed further away from occupants. During refurbishments and/or building projects local noise levels may increase. If these levels become problematic you should consult your line manager.

C3. Lighting

Office lighting should allow you to read documents and your keyboard without visual discomfort. A desk lamp may be required if the lighting in the office is insufficient for the tasks you are performing. If your office environment is too bright there are a number of things you can do, namely:

• Repositioning your desk to avoid glare is important as reflections off one screen can cause discomfort and may even cause headaches. This has already been discussed earlier in Tip A6.
• Blinds can be installed to allow you to regulate the amount of light entering your work environment locally. This is effective as it will allow you to vary it according to the change in season (i.e.: In winter you may require more light in the late afternoon).
• Dimmer switches can also be installed if required.

C4. Layout of Office Area

The layout of your office area should not interfere with your health and safety. If you find that you frequently bump into certain items they should be repositioned so this does not occur. There should be no trip hazards (i.e.: trailing wires; piles of documents; etc) that someone may encounter as these have the potential to cause serious injury.

Example of Workstation Set-Up

The following checklists should help you determine the ideal workstation set up and seating arrangement.

Figure 1: Workstation Layout

1. Adequate Lighting
   
2. Adequate contrast - no glare or distracting reflections
   
3. Distracting noise decreased to a minimum
   
4. Leg room and clearances to allow postural changes
   
5. Window covering
   
6. Appropriate software
   
7. Screen: stable image, adjustable, readable, glare/reflection free
   
8. Keyboard: usable, adjustable, detachable, legible
   
9. Work surface: allow flexible arrangements, spacious, glare free
   
10. Work chair: Adjustable
    
    Footrest

Figure 2: Seating Arrangement

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Further Information

For further information visit the Health & Safety Executive web site 

Direct link to HSE- VDU Guidance 

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