Contact: Susan S. Lang
Office: 607-255-3613
E-Mail: SSL4@cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Four out of five workers prefer to work at electrically adjustable tables that allow them to stand at their computers part of the day, according to a new Cornell University study.
The study also found that people with access to such computer stations choose to work while standing about 20 percent of the day.
"We found that the computer workers who had access to the adjustable work surfaces also reported significantly less musculoskeletal upper-body discomfort, lower afternoon discomfort scores and significantly more productivity," says Alan Hedge, professor of design and environmental analysis in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell and director of Cornell's Human Factors and Ergonomics Laboratory.
Hedge reported his findings at the 48th Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) annual meeting, held Sept. 20-24 in New Orleans. (At the meeting he was named a fellow of the society.) The study is published in the proceedings of the meeting, and a full report is available at http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/CUEHADownRep0904.html .
Hedge conducted a study of 33 computer workers at two companies, a high-technology facility on the West Coast and an insurance company in the Midwest. All participants were intensive computer users and filled out questionnaires before the test about their work patterns and musculoskeletal discomfort at work. At both companies, half the participants randomly received an electric height-adjustable work surface (EHAW) for a month. After that, both the control and EHAW groups were resurveyed.
"More than 80 percent of the participants preferred the EHAW," Hedge says, "and the average musculoskeletal discomfort index score was 20 percent lower for the EHAW than the fixed-height stations." Hedge notes that the EHAWs were particularly popular among workers with neck and shoulder problems.
"An EHAW can be helpful to anyone with a back injury who needs to stand for back relief for part of the day and also for anyone who wishes to work in sitting or standing arrangements," Hedge says. "A subsequent laboratory study that we have just completed and will be presented at next year's HFES conference shows that putting a negative-tilt keyboard tray on an EHAW really works well to keep people's wrists in a neutral posture for intensive keyboard/mouse work."
EHAWs are commonly used throughout Europe and in Australia, Hedge added. They tend to cost from $800 to $2,000, depending on whether the table is angled and includes a separate, adjustable negative-tilt keyboard tray.
The EHAW study was funded by Linak, with furniture from WorkRite, and the subsequent laboratory study on keyboard trays with height-adjustable surfaces was funded by Humanscale.
Hedge is co-editor of Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics Methods (CRC Press), which presents an overview of 83 major methods in ergonomics and human factors.
Related World Wide Web sites: The following sites provide additional information on this news release. Some might not be part of the Cornell University community, and Cornell has no control over their content or availability.
oAlan Hedge: http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/ahpersonal/ahbio.htm
oAlan Hedge's ergonomics work: http://ergo.human.cornell.edu
oHuman Factors and Ergonomics Society: http://www.hfes.org/
oNew study: http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/CUEHADownRep0904.html
oHandbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics Methods:
http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/hhfembook.htm
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