Supervisor Tips: Making Your Office "User-Friendly" for Computer Users

Fact Sheet: A User-Friendly Workstation (pdf)
Print and share this fact sheet with office staff.

Assess Your Office:

• Do staff members in your office use a computer four hours or more a day?
• Do employees perform continuous, intensive computer work without taking rest breaks?
• Have personal computers or other computer equipment recently been installed in your office with little thought given to accompanying computer workstation furniture and accessories?
• Do you notice staff members sitting in awkward postures when using their computers?
• Does office staff experience computer-related aches and pains or eyestrain from computer use?
• Have there been any computer-related injuries such as tendonitis or carpal tunnel syndrome in your office in the last year?

Suggestions for Action:

• Print "A User-Friendly Workstation" and share copies with staff.
• Schedule a "Computer Health*Matters" workshop or send staff to this class to empower them with the information they need to work safely. See ICE for current schedule. Refer to the "Healthy Office Resource Guide" for available campus resources.
• Promote frequent short "stretch" breaks or alternative work tasks to break up long hours of intensive keyboard work. Encourage staff to bookmark and visit the "Take A Stretch Break" website often. Studies have shown that brief breaks can reduce fatigue and increase productivity among computer users.
• Redesign jobs with repetitive tasks to promote task rotation.
• Request your department's computer workstation evaluator to perform preventive workstation evaluations for current staff who use a computer 4 hours or more a day and for new employees when they are hired.
• Request re-evaluations if an employee reports symptoms, when new computer equipment is installed, or when employees are relocated to a different workstation.
• Implement changes recommended by your department's computer workstation evaluator.
• Encourage innovation. It can lead to creative, inexpensive ways of resolving workplace design problems. Solutions don't have to look nice to be effective. Elevating a monitor screen on a box may be as effective as a commercial product designed for this purpose.
• Identify workstations requiring new equipment. Develop a plan for prioritizing and budgeting for more expensive solutions, if needed.
• Discuss your ideas and plans with your manager to win support at higher levels. Management commitment is a key component of successful health and safety programs on the job.
• Encourage staff to report symptoms early. Send injured employees for medical treatment and report injuries promptly. Implement work restrictions and workplace modifications recommended.
• Document training sessions, workstation evaluations, and improvements you have made. Keep your department's safety committee or department safety coordinator updated on your activities.

Action Plan
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