Original Research Article
Year: 2019 | Month: August | Volume: 9 | Issue: 8 | Pages: 367-375
Ergonomics Assessment of Office Desk Workers Working in Corporate Offices
Chandwani A1, Chauhan M.K2, Bhatnagar A3
1M.Sc. Resource Management and Ergonomics, Department of Resource Management, SNDTWU, Mumbai.
2Associate Professor, Department of Resource Management, SNDTWU, Mumbai.
3Professor, Department of Resource Management, SNDTWU, Mumbai.
Corresponding Author: Chauhan M.K
ABSTRACT
Background: Organizations today face multiple challenges to maintain the health and performance of employees while attempting to integrate new technologies and support a widening range of work styles. The paradigm shift in the lifestyle of office employees from active to sedentary style can be clearly seen in the modern offices. Office computer workers use computers on an average 6-12 hours/day in a static working posture. This has impacted greatly the health of the employees. The study was undertaken to provide an insight to the various health-related problems of the office employees due to the workplace design and environmental conditions in the modern offices.
Methodology: 80 desk workers from various corporate offices in the city of Mumbai were interviewed. A structured questionnaire for interview purpose was developed to elicit data pertaining to the work environment, workplace furniture, office equipment, and musculoskeletal disorders. The respondents were office workers who were professionals, managers and administrative workers.
Result: The results revealed that 80% of the respondents suffered from atleast one musculoskeletal problem at their workplace. Majority of the respondents reported of suffering from lower back pain (68.5%) followed by neck pain (64.2%), upper back pain (45.7%) and shoulder pain (44.2%) respectively. 81.3% of desk workers did not get any type of ergonomics training on usage of office furniture’s and computer related accessories. About 40% and above felt chair and table to be comfortable; but storage and printer placement was not satisfactory. 31.5% of the respondents reported the environment to be noisy and disturbing; leading to mental fatigue.
Conclusion: Sustained prolonged static posture, awkward posture, chair design, placement of keyboard and mouse and non-availability of footrest were stated as the most common causes for the musculoskeletal issues.Majority of the employees reported internal physical environment to be good; but they suffered from lack of concentration and stress respectively.
Key words: workplace design, desk workers, MSD, furniture, environment