All posts by office-chair-specialist

Office Evolution

The workplace has been changing over the decades from office rooms, to partitions and cubicles, moving on to open space offices, and now going towards hot-desking areas used by executives with their own lap-tops. Even the home office users are on the verge of converging their home office with home living with new high-tech devices and trends such as integrated home cinema and home automation. Computer usage such as Internet and email is now diluted between mobile phones, blackberry, miniature laptops and giant desktops and is now making ground through our TV screens as some of the main Internet websites can now be browsed on your super thin / flat / sharp latest hd tv screen.

At the same time tv is also bleeding into the Internet ever directing us to a web-page after a program or prompting us to watch the next episode on the tv channel website. Everything is merging, tv , computer, mobile devices, telephones. Everything is converging, work life and home life. Everything is one: entertainment & communication. The telephone is now on the Internet with Skype and voice over IP, the music is now accessible on TV and on the Internet in the form of downloads. Games can be played equally on computers and play stations wired to your TV.

So is working from home

So I ask myself in this ever-changing environment what will be the home office furniture of the future. It sure will need to be as versatile as our lifestyles. An office chair will have to be convertible in a lounge chair or a game chair, a desk will need to be modular (adjustable and extendable) as well as mobile (desk with wheels) and ergonomic. You can’t have an ergonomic desk without and ergonomic chair and that would be an Ergohuman

Any idea what tomorrow’s home office will look like?

Ergonomic Office Chair
Ergohuman
Ergohuman Office Chair with Leg Rest
Ergohuman Office Chair with Leg Rest

Ergohuman the Eco-friendly Office chair

The Ergohuman office chair is now Certified in the UK and is 97% Eco-friendly

Certified to BSEN5459 (2000) Part 2 : structurally suitable and sufficiently stable for use as an office chair for up to 24 hours a day, when used by persons up to 150kg in weight.

Eco-friendly – 97% of the Ergohuman chair is made with recycleable materials

The ERGOHUMAN chair conforms to BS 5459-2:2000 Specification for performance requirements and tests for office furniture. Office pedestal seating for use by persons weighing up to 150kg and for use up to 24 hours a day, including type-approval tests for individual components

BS 5459-2 specifies performance requirements and test methods for the structural safety and stability of office pedestal seating when used by persons weighing up to 150 kg, or when used for up to 24 hours a day, including chairs for use with tables and desks higher than those specified in BS EN 527-1.

It also specifies requirements and test methods for type-approval of bases, columns, seat actions, back stems and locking devices.

BS 5459-2 seeks to ensure that the seating will not become a danger or cause injury to users when it is used as office seating in a manner which is foreseeable

Ergohuman Office Chair
Ergohuman Office Chair

New Leather for the Ergohuman Office Chair Range

New Leather for the Ergohuman Range of Office Chairs
New Leather for the Ergohuman Range of Office Chairs

New Genidia Office Chairs

Introducing the latest Office Chair from the Ergohuman Chair Range, the Genidia is a new concept office/posture chair with cutting edge aesthetics, breakthrough bonding design and interactive sitting posture engineering.

Its twisted structure optimises strength, allowing it to create a consistent thin edge throughout the entire frame. A custom integrated mechanism offers many areas of adjustment without disrupting the chair’s flow.

Also available with the Genidia is a ‘Sitting Posture Warning Device’ which can help users to correct their sitting posture, allowing them to be seated in a healthier way. After turning on the device, if the user has an incorrect sitting posture more than a minute, the device will be activated to alert the user.

Features:

  • Sitting Posture Warning Device add-on is also available
  • Mesh is made from elastomeric polyester mesh
  • Seat frame and headrest is made of nylon
  • Back frame is made of a combination of nylon and TPR
  • 4D armrest is made from plastic, aluminium, metal and polyurethane

Genidia Office Chair
Genidia Office Chair

 

Ergonomics in the Office

Ergonomics is about getting the situation to fit you, rather than you to fit the situation. So, for example, when looking at an ergonomic chair, getting the chair to fit you would mean addressing points such as your height, your size and your job duties.

Your height is an important point to address, as a perfect sitting position will mean that your feet are flat on the floor, while your thighs are more or less parallel to the floor. It is easy to see that if your chair is too low for you, your knees will be coming up to meet you and there will be less support to your lumbar region, as your thighs are not making perfect contact with the office chair. If the chair is too high for you, your feet may not fully touch the floor, making steadiness an issue. A ergonomic height-adjustable chair will help solve these needs.

If you are small in stature, or somewhat overweight, the armrests of the chair may not serve their purpose of supporting your lower arms, again to keep them parallel to the floor and resting on the desk comfortably.

Once the ergonomic chair is adjusted to your needs, you can identify whether the desk height meets your specifications. It’s all right getting the seat absolutely perfect but is the table or desk too high or too low for your wrists to rest comfortably near the keyboard or the paperwork?

This is where electric height adjustable desks show their worth. As the name suggests, a electric height-adjustable desk will allow you to get the correct height for your perfect workstation.

The theory of ergonomics also addresses a cognitive aspect. For example, why did you place your phone to the left of your monitor and why so far back on the desk? If it’s an office tool that you use quite often, is it in a comfortable and accessible position? Why isn’t the monitor directly in front of you? Regular use of the computer will mean that your body rests in a twisted position (neck and hips) for long periods of time. The placing a heavy dictionary at the back of the desk, instead of closer at hand, will cause pressure to your hand, wrist, arm and shoulder, every time you reach for it.

Ergonomics is a serious business which, once you’ve got it right, encourages your body to respect good posture. An ergonomic desk and adjustable ergonomic chair might cost a little more than run-of-the-mill office furniture but for all the right reasons. Surveys have shown that working in an ergonomic environment increases productivity by as much as 20%, the enhanced posture having the knock-on effect of increasing work satisfaction. With less posture-related illnesses and the resulting time off work, creating an ergonomic office ticks all the right boxes.

Ergonomic Office Chairs
Ergonomic Office Chairs
Electric Height Adjustable Desks
Electric Height Adjustable Desks

Luce Chair

The Okamura Range – Getting the Right Chair for the Situation.

In an office environment, who should pay for the ergonomic office chair – the employer or the employee? This is a difficult question to answer and one which, if not addressed, could lead to greater questions being asked later.

A young worker fresh out of school will have an equally fresh body and the aches and pains that an older member of staff may suffer may not be issues. A more mature and well-experienced worker may have developed ageing disabilities, such as arthritis and rheumatism (though these problems do sometimes develop in very young people) and sitting for long periods of time could cause stiffness in joints, muscles and tendons, exacerbating an existing problem or bringing on new discomfort and pain.

Sickness causes absence and work may become delayed. Also, staff may become stressed through doubling up on work volume and expensive temporary staff may not be able to make the grade with expectations, all contributing to a drop in business standards and resulting in disheartened customers.

Ignoring people’s needs is a risky business and can end up costing a lot more than the price of a good ergonomic chair. Of course, if you know little about ergonomic office furniture, you could overspend and maybe even buy a chair that is not suitable for the staff member’s needs or the job responsibilities.

Websites bring the world of ergonomics into your own office, where you can look at designs, study the specifications, get to know the customisation and styling options and also consider the optional extras. Designs will be different, so getting the right ergonomic office chair is no different to getting the right pair of shoes. You’re looking for comfort and support and, just as high heels are not the best for hill-walking, some chairs will not be right for some people or for particular tasks.

Like good cars, the company name of good chairs goes before them and Okamura is the Rolls Royce of chairs, offering lots of changes on the same theme. While one might need the adjustments that come with the Contessa chair or the CP chair, the different specifications offered by the Luce chair or the Cruise workstation might have added extras that address the job requirements.

Lumbar support really is a must, so this should be top of your list when choosing your chair, as correct back support will prevent or alleviate pain and lessen any back-related absences from work. A wise employer will purchase sensible chairs and gain the respect of his or her workforce because of such a caring attitude. Payback and savings will be evident in the success of that business.

Luce Chair
Luce Chair

Cruise Computer Workstation
Cruise Computer Workstation from Simply Ergonomic
Okamura Contessa Ergonomic Office Chairs
Okamura Contessa Ergonomic Office Chairs

Mirus Office Chair

The Ergohuman range of office chairs are stunning and, although they are similar but different, you’ll be hard-pushed to choose the one for you. The Mirus is the latest addition and, like many of the other designs, it also boasts the single-lever control, which allows you to adjust the three popular features of seat height, seat depth and back tilt.

The seat height makes the seat available to short, medium and tall users, getting the seat pad in position to allow your feet to touch the floor comfortably. The seat depth complements the seat back’s purpose of addressing height, in that it allows you to make sure that your thighs are fully supported and your knees fold comfortably at the seat pad end. Like in a car, the seat tilt is about feeling right and getting your arms and hands to meet the working area (keyboard or desk as opposed to the steering wheel) at the most effective distance.

The multi-directional neck-roll gets the support just where you need it, as is the case with the 3D lumbar support facility. The seat slide manoeuvre adds the finishing touches.

The Mirus Office Chair is one of the Ergohuman range of office chairs that offer a zero-pressure seat cushion, with the purpose of distributing weight evenly and making sitting feel like a luxurious experience, rather than being simply to take the weight off your feet.

When choosing the frame, you can opt for either black or white with aluminium, or all-black, complemented by the all-aluminium base and five black castors.

Three of the nine models come with a 3D headrest and, in a choice of either fabric or mesh which both come in a range of colours, you really will be hard-pushed for choice.

The Mirus Office Chair is 98 percent recyclable and really does deserve your attention, before making your mind up about which Ergohuman ergonomic chair should be the one to serve your personal needs.

Call Simply Ergonomic to find out more

 

Mirus-Office Chair - Ergohuman Range
Mirus-Office Chair – Part of the Ergohuman Range of Office Chairs
Mirus White Frame Office Chair
Mirus Office Chair white Frame

Within these Walls – Cubicles or Open-Plan?

Offices used to have four walls but, as time moved on, open-plan moved in and, instead of having private space in which to perform one’s job, ‘one office for all’ became fashionable, making a quiet working environment a thing of the past.

Then the cubicle design arrived in the late sixties, giving a feeling of privacy but a continued problem with background noise.  Described as an acoustic sieve, our understanding the difficulty of this environment probably only hits home when we phone a call centre for some kind of advice and can hear everyone else but the person that is helping us.

As office space became smaller, the computer industry seemed to respond, large monitors being replaced by flat screens and filing cabinets being replaced by CDs and pen drives.  Research in America proved that by removing all the then redundant filing cabinets, offices could be smaller and the cost of renting space could be greatly reduced.

However, working in a cubicle can be very stressful, since background noise does make concentration very difficult.  Personal space may now be down to a ten feet by ten feet square (although it is only three-sided), within which you have everything you need.  Your office is transforming into an Ergonomic Office, so makes sence to have a good ergonomic office chair. Your ergonomic desk may now be L-shaped against two walls, so the flat screen lifted from the desk top by an adjustable monitor arm makes sense, as it not only creates more workable space but allows you to adjust its angle without exerting yourself.

Getting the best office chair for you is now paramount, as all actions will most likely be done from a sitting position. An adjustable chair should not only address appropriate back support but have swivel movement and be correctly sized to fit both the user and the designated work space.

Research has also indicated that the two most important points that need to be addressed in a successful working space are the ability to work uninterrupted and to have easy and frequent interaction with others.  If these two factors are realised, team work and job satisfaction can increase by as much as twenty three percent. A cocktail office may therefore be the answer.  Rather like a cubicle but with a sliding glass door, this office will improve the acoustic situation and an open door can indicate the occupant’s agreement to interruption at selected times. That same door will also have a positive psychological effect, as having one’s own office does give a feeling of importance, which often displays itself in the increased quantity and quality of work produced.

Ergonomic Office chairs – choose yours

Ergonomic Office Chairs
Ergonomic Office Chairs