Here are some tips to increase safety and reduce injury in the workplace.

Guidelines to setting up your workstation

Office workers must use equipment that is properly selected, coordinated and adjusted to help prevent a range of injuries caused by overuse, poor posture and poor lighting.
1. Chairs and posture checklist for keyboard workers
Well-adjusted chairs improve body position, blood circulation and reduce muscular effort and pressure on the worker’s back.
Adjust the seat so that you are comfortable in a slightly reclined position and at a correct work surface height. If your feet do not reach the floor, then a footrest should be used. Adjust the backrest so that it supports the lower back when you are sitting upright.
2. Work surface height
Adjust the height of the work surface and/or the chair so that the work surface is approximately a finger length below the height of the elbow when seated.
3. Keyboard placement
Place the keyboard in a position that allows the forearms to be close to horizontal, upper arms vertical and the wrists straight, that is, with the hand in line with the forearm. If this causes the elbows to be held far out from the side of the body re-check item 1.
4. Screen placement
Set the eye to screen distance at the distance that permits you to most easily focus on the screen. Usually this will be within an arm’s length. Set the height of the monitor so that the top of the screen is below eye level and the bottom of the screen can be read without a marked tilting of the head. Usually this means that the centre of the screen will need to be near shoulder height.
5. Desk-top layout
Place all controls and task materials within comfortable reach of both hands so that there is no unnecessary twisting or reaching of any part of the body.
6. Document holder
Place any document holder as close to your monitor as possible in the position that causes least twisting or tilting of the head.
7. Posture and movement
Change posture at frequent intervals to minimise fatigue. Avoid awkward postures at the extremes of the joint range, especially the wrists. Take frequent short rests rather than infrequent longer rests.
8. Glare and reflection
It is important to detect the presence of glare and reflection. To determine whether there is glare from overhead lights the seated worker should hold an object such as a book above the eyes at eyebrow level and establish whether the screen image becomes clearer in the absence of overhead glare. To detect whether there are reflections from the desk surface the worker should hold the book above the surface and assess the change in reflected glare from the screen.
A number of ways are available to eliminate or reduce the influence of these reflections:
Tilt or raise the screen so that reflections are directed below eye level.
Cover screens with an anti-glare screen.
Negative contrast screens (dark characters on light background) will reduce the influence of these reflections.
Turn the screen brightness down to a comfortable level.
Look away into the distance every ten minutes or so in order to rest the eyes.
Change the text and background colours. Recommended are black characters on white or yellow background, or yellow on black, white on black, white on blue and green on white. Avoid red and green and yellow on white.
9. Using a mouse
A well-designed mouse should not cause undue pressure on the wrist and forearm muscles. A large bulky mouse may keep the wrist undesirably bent at an uncomfortable angle. Pressure can be reduced by releasing the mouse at frequent intervals and selecting a slim-line, low profile mouse.
10. Keyboard and telephone operations
Use an adjustable headset with a volume control if continuous keyboard/telephone operation is required.
11. Rest breaks and keyboard work
The key in helping prevent overuse injuries is to break repetitive work with non-repetitive tasks and/or exercises and/or rest breaks.
Frequent short breaks are most effective in relieving strain associated with keyboard or mouse work. For sustained keying and mousing activity a break should be taken for a few minutes every half hour. During this break, operators should walk around and move in a way that relieves the feeling of muscle fatigue. Movements that are a natural response to fatigued muscles such as shrugging and retracting the shoulders are generally the most effective in dealing with muscle fatigue.

Bluefin Resources has an OH&S policy that ensures our compliance with Workers Compensation and OH&S legislation.

Contractors are required to:

Keep their workplace safe, clean and tidy.
Report all hazards, near misses, incidents and injuries to their Bluefin Resources account manager and host employer supervisor.
Comply with the Bluefin Resources and their host employer’s workplace safety guidelines and procedures.
Participate in workplace safely meetings when required.
Attend OH&S training when offered and apply what is learnt in the workplace.
Wear and maintain personal protective equipment (PPE) if required.
Undertake rehabilitation and return to work program requirements, if injured.