Newsrooms are stressful enough without their furniture contributing to the problem.
That was the message at a June 17 NEXPO breakfast, "How to Make Your Workplace Ergonomic." Gary Chin, president of Midwest Publishers Supply Company and Jim Ireland, national sales representative of SIS Human Factors Technologies Inc., spoke about ergonomics--the relationship of the human body to the work environment.
"Newspapers are unique," said Ireland. "You produce a new product every day on deadline. It's stressful, and it keeps your workers in their seats."
Dubbing newspaper operations "harbingers" of what other industries will experience in the next 10 years, Ireland stressed the importance of ergonomics. Desk shapes should support the task, and newspeople certainly need more than a tiny cube. Pull-out keyboards are a problem because they separate the employee from his or her work surface, limiting the use of space. Instead, the speakers suggested providing a wrap-around desktop.
"Eighty percent of people in newsrooms have eye problems," Ireland said. This is due to poor lighting and workers being forced to tip their heads up when looking at computer screens. Tear film evaporates more quickly when one's head is tipped up, causing eye strain, errors and time away from the task.
Because writing and editing tie workers to their seats for long periods of time, ergonomically correct seating increases productivity as well.
"When buying a chair, consider who is going to use it," Chin said. "If a chair is used by someone who's sitting for long periods, more should be invested in the chair than for a worker who is not tied to a work area."
Features of the chair should include: controls that can be reached easily, a back support that can follow the user's motion or remain locked in a stationary position, five legs so the chair won't tip and casters that roll only when the worker is seated.
Because of socialized medicine, ergonomics is mandated by law in Europe. Governments pay the medical bills and believe that an investment in ergonomics will save dollars in the future. The thinking in the United States is gradually coming closer to that of Europe because employers want to reduce workers' compensation claims, said Ireland.
According to a National Institute of Safety and Health study, 74 percent of workers surveyed in 1995 said that if conditions of their workplace were improved, they could do more work. Also, 73 percent said a comfortable chair could help them "a great deal."
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