How To Configure Your Workstation

Step 1: Worktop and chair

Your worktop and chair should be at the right relative heights, so that your legs don't dangle - keep your feet on the floor or on a footstool. Have an adjustable chair, preferably swivel. You can often get one of these from a second-hand office furniture store, or from an office which is re-furbishing. It's worth the investment.

Have a worktop big enough to hold your PC or laptop and printer and enough space for your papers. Sit straight, with your bottom well back on the chair.

Your hands should at roughly the same line as your forearms, with no flexing of the wrist, therefore a slightly sloped keyboard is better than a flat one. This is more difficult on a laptop, so if you are going to do a lot of office work, opt for a PC. A wrist rest should only be used in-between typing - they are not for leaning on while you work.

Step 2: Position

You may not have much choice about where you position your workstation, but you do have choices about the way you face and what your surroundings are like. Don't sit facing a window. The outside light will go straight into your eyes and you won't be able to see the screen. If you sit facing a wall, make the background a neutral, pastel shade rather than something very bright, which can be distracting.

If you're in an office where people are in and out, sit facing the door, if you can, particularly if you or your staff are acting as receptionist. You need to see who's coming and going, and you look more welcoming.

Consider where the power sockets are, and tie cables together or have them in plastic conduit so you don't have cables trailing all over the place. That's against health and safety regulations.
Look up the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAWA) and the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963, particularly if you employ others, even if it's only one person.

Step 3: Lighting and heating

The ambient, all round lighting should not be too dim or too harsh. Dim lighting means you can't see what you're looking for in your desk drawers. Harsh lighting can be very tiring on the eyes.

Don't have lighting - daylight or artificial - straight onto the screen or into your face. You'll get glare and dazzle, and you won't be able to see a thing. Draw blinds or curtains if you can. Adjust the brightness of your screen if necessary. An angle poised desk lamp directed onto the papers or your worktop is a great help, particularly if you are referring to hard copies. It means your papers are lit, but your screen is darkened, and shows up well. Regulate the temperature so that you or your staff can work comfortably, it's hard to concentrate if you're too hot or too cold.

Step 4: Telephone

Are you, or your staff, left or right-handed? If you're right handed have the phone on your left. If left-handed, vice versa. Have pen or pencil and message pad handy, on the other side of your worktop.



It sometimes takes a little time and adjustment to get your workstation just right, but it's worth the effort - you'll be more productive.