A chair is the most commonly used piece of furniture, especially in offices and other workplaces. Office Chairs are made from a variety of material, including wood, plastic, steel, foam, sponge, springs, leather and fabric.
If a person shuffles on his or her seat often, it’s a sign the chair might be uncomfortable. It may too small or large, too high or low, wobbly or squeaky, or it may be rough or slippery. As chairs take up the major part of an average office worker’s time, and with current focus on increasing the efficiency of workers, there has been renewed interest in designing ergonomic chairs.
The office chairs that we see today are either too cosy (they sink you in) or too uncomfortable (they make you move often). Designers of office chairs and furniture believe that improper chair is a major cause of lost man- hours, thereby contributing to inefficiency in work.
While designing the Ergonomic Chairs, designers take into account the average person’s built, posture, sitting habits, and the distance from eyes to the workstation, leg space, the dimensions of seating area and the whole cubicle. The design of such chairs is as non-intrusive as possible, with various knobs and levers to adjust its height and swivelling and reclining actions.
Various studied indicate that ergonomic chairs help increase the efficiency of workers and the total output. As these are custom-designed and manufactured, they are costlier than normal chairs. But in the long run, the cost to benefit ratio improves in view of increased efficiency.
Today, office goers spend a better part of their day commuting to and fro offices. With increased computerization and technological innovations, it is believed that in future most of the work will be carried from home-based workers that too at flexible hours. The need of office chairs, therefore, may be eliminated but as of now, ergonomic chairs are the need of the hour.
Office Direct QLD 