It may seem that an office space is one that is fairly innocuous, but in reality a simple workspace can be just as dangerous as a warehouse or a building site. Whilst the results of accidents and injuries within the office may well not be as severe or life-threatening as those experienced in much more ‘high-risk’ environments, the dangers are still there and from unchecked electrics to your furniture itself, there are plenty of risks to assess and mitigate.
However, some risks are less obvious than others and it may well be that your workforce is seeing the cumulative effect of using unsuitable or poor quality furniture seriously affect its health.
The problems that can be encountered through continued use of poor furniture are unlikely to show up on a normal risk assessment and so it may instead be necessary to undertake specific furniture at work assessments to see whether or not your current furnishings are actually doing more harm than good to both your employees and your business as a whole. After all, if your employees happen to be uncomfortable and eventually start experiencing pain directly related to the way in which they work, you will be losing a great deal of efficiency and productivity and in turn a great deal of money.
When you buy the wrong furniture, you are not just risking productivity, but you also risk compromising the health and safety of each and every member of staff (including yourself). Yet, a surprising number of employers ignore furniture at work complaints assuming that all furniture will be slightly uncomfortable if it is used for such prolonged periods of time.
However, this is not the case and it is only the poor quality or poorly suited items of furniture that will lead to serious discomfort amongst your workforce. In turn, it will be important to not only assess your current furniture but also to listen to your employees if they happen to complain about certain chairs, desks or even meeting room furniture.
It is not uncommon for those sat at a desk for hours on end each and every day to experience all kinds of different health problems, from bad necks and backs through to wrist strain and even eye strain. As such, furniture not only needs to be bought with health concerns firmly in mind, but also arranged to maximise the amount of natural or artificial light.
The wrong furniture is not just likely to leave your staff feeling a little aggrieved and far less productive, but it could well lead to individuals actually having to take a significant time off work, something that will affect corporate finances even more, due to the drop in productivity, the costs of training up new staff or, of course, a combination of the two.
Even if your current furniture has already created issues, it is not too late to limit the damage such furniture may be causing. On the other hand, ignoring furniture at work problems will only lead to issues getting far worse and in turn it will be vital to address such issues as soon as you possibly can.
About the Author – Adam Howes is a freelance writer and therefore knows a thing or two about sitting at a desk all day. He regularly contributes to sites such as www.furniture-work.co.uk