[biurowi 3 - en] organization of office work

Specific rules and regulations regarding occupational health and safety of work in front of a computer screen monitor are to be found in the Ordinance of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy of 1 December 1998 on occupational health and safety of work in workstations equipped with computer screen monitor (JL No. 148, item 973). Organization of office work LEGAL BASIS

The aim of adapting Workstation to the rules of ergonomic s : To ensure safe and efficient work performance with relatively low biological cost. Consequences of disobeying ergonomic s rules: Physiological results – they are the effect of e.g the body position at work harmful to health or repetitive effort Psychophysiological results – they are caused by excessive or too little mental effort, stress etc. arising while operating or supervising a machine or device. Ergonomic s i s a science dealing with adapting tools, machines, working environment and conditions to anatomical and psychophysical characteristics of a person. ERGONOMICS Organization of office work

Office work rooms and their equipment should ensure that workers enjoy safe and hygienic working conditions. The following should be provided in these rooms: natural and artificial lighting, the right temperature, air circulation, protection against dump, protection against unwelcome thermal conditions and insolation. Office work rooms ROOM EQUIPMENT

Each worker working in the room with computer(s) should be guaranteed: 2m 2 – of free room area not occupied by any mech a nical devices, furniture, equipment etc. 13m 3 – of free volume of the room not occupied by any mech a nical devices, furniture, equipment etc. THE AREA OF THE ROOMS Office work rooms

Rooms of permanent Office work cannot be lower than 3m. The height of the rooms can be lowered in case of the use of air-conditioning, only with an approval of the regional sanitary inspector. THE HEIGHT OF THE ROOMS Office work rooms

The height of the rooms can also be lowered to: 2.5 m in the light, if there are no more than 4 employees working in one room, and there is at least 15 m 3 of free room volume per each of them, 2.2 m in the light – in a room situated on a mezzanine open to a larger room. Office work rooms THE HEIGHT OF THE ROOMS

Floors in Office rooms should be: Level, Not slippery, Not emitting dust, Stable, Resistant to rubbing off and pressure, Easy to keep them clean, There should be stairs leading to work rooms and workstations located on different levels. FLOORS Office work rooms

Lighting is one of very important factors of the work environment which have a direct influence both on the injury and illness threat of the workers and on the efficiency of work. Inappropriate lighting of the place of office work results in sore and tired eyes and mental and nervous fatigue of the workers. Lighting should ensure comfort of visual work. LIGHTING – A FACTOR OF THE WORK ENVIRONMENT Lighting of the office rooms

Daily lighting should be ensure d in every room of permanent office work. Glass in windows and skylights should be clear and clean and should let through enough daylight. There should be an easy and safe access to windows and skylights to clean them. Windows and skylights should be equipped with appropriate devices eliminating excessive sunlight shining on workstations (e.g. Venetian and vertical blinds). DAILY LIGHTING Lighting of the office rooms

In the rooms of office work, the ratio of the window area, calculated in the light of window, to the floor area should be at least 1 to 8. Lighting of the office rooms DAILY LIGHTING

Regardless of daily lighting, workrooms should be equipped with e l ectric light whose intensity should be adapted to type of works performed and precision they require. Lighting with artificial light rooms of office work which are joined as well as rooms designer for general interaction (e.g. corridors, halls, stairs) should not differ in the intensity which could be dazzling in passages between the rooms. ELECTRIC LIGHTING Lighting of the office rooms

The required operating intensity of lighting in offices according to PN-EN 12464-1:2004 Lighting of the office rooms ELECTRIC LIGHTING Item Type of interior, tasks or activities Lighting intensity in lx 1. Filing, copying etc. 300 2. Hand-writing, typing, reading, data processing 500 3. Technical drawing. 750 4. Computer-designing workstations. 500 5. Appointments and conferences rooms. 500 6. Reception desk. 300 7. Records. 200

ATTENTION! When a room is the room of permanent work, it is required, in case of using artificial lighting exclusively, to obtain an official agreement of an appropriate regional sanitary inspector, issued with approval of an appropriate local work inspector. Lighting of the office rooms ELECTRIC LIGHTING

Computer monitors should be placed parallel to windows and the line of ceiling lights (the surface of screens should be perpendicular to windows). PLACING AND ARRANGING EQUIPMENT IN RELATION TO LIGHTING Lighting of the office rooms

The notion of microclimate defined as the thermal environment of a person, includes such physical factors as: temperature, relative humidity, velocity of air circulation and thermal radiation MICROCLIMATE Thermal environment of the office rooms

Temperature in work rooms should be appropriate to the kind of work performed there. In o ffice rooms the temperature should not be lower than 1 8 o C . TEMPERATURE Thermal environment of the office rooms

The temperature which guarantees full mental efficiency of a person and therefore right for ensuring comfort of office work, is 18 - 20 o C . 2. If the temperature in office rooms is between 21-25 0 C, employees are observed to be irritable and less hard-working. Mental efficiency is still satisfactory, however, the worker begins to make errors. 3. When the temperature in o ffice rooms is above 25 0 C, the workers feel dull, their mental efficiency decreases dramatically, difficulties with concentration appear and the num b er of mistakes they make increases significantly. Thermal environment of the office rooms TEMPERATURE

One of important parametres of the air in the work environment is its relative humidity, i.e. the ratio of the amount of vapour in the air to the maximum amount in a given temperature. Relative air humidity, showed in percentage values, affects working conditions in a significant way. RELATIVE AIR HUMIDITY Thermal environment of the office rooms

Optimal conditions of air humidity depend, to a high degree, on the ambient temperature. The worker feels well in the following temperature: 18 - 20 o C – relative air humidity equals 40-50%; 25 o C – relative air humidity equals 35-40% Thermal environment of the office rooms RELATIVE AIR HUMIDITY

The most frequent cause of giving shocks is poor technical condition of the wiring system in the rooms of office work as well as hygienic-sanitary and social rooms, which complement offices. Wiring system and electrical devices should be made and used in such a way as not to pose threat of giving a shock to workers or of fire. Wiring system and electrical devices

ATTENTION! Installing and using too few sockets, especially when the number of office devices in constantly growing, is the reason for using extension cords and various adapters, which, in turn, poses very serious threats of: giving a shock, causing a fire through overloading leads and wiring system equipment (e.g. sockets) and causing sparks, tripping and falling on extension cords lying on the floor in ways to and between workstation. Wiring system and electrical devices

While equipping a workstation with a comput er , the employer needs to meet the fol l owing requirements: symbols a n d icons on the screen should be clear and readable, The picture on the screen should be stable, without any pulsation or other forms of instability, brightness and c ontrast of an icon on the screen should be easily to regulate, depending on the lighting or a workstation, regulations of monitor setting should allow to bend the screen, at least 20 0 back and 5 0 forward as well as to rotate at, at least, 5 0 forward as well as to rotate around its own axis at, at least, 60 0 towards right and towards left. MONITOR Equipping a workstation with a computer

ATTENTION! A worker must not: Remove a fault in the monitor on his/ her own, especially if this requires taking off or opening the casing, Remove a fault in the wiring which powers the monitor (wires, sockets, plugs). MONITOR Equipping a workstation with a computer

The keyboard should be a separate element of the basic equipment of a workstation. The design of the keyboard must ensure that the worker sits in such position that it does not lead to hand muscles’ fatigue during work. It should be possible to regulate the rake in the range between 0 0 and 15 0 , The surface of the keyboard should be mat and symbols on the keys should be readable and in contrasting colours. KEYBOARD Equipping a workstation with a computer

The chair which constitutes an element of the workstation equipment should: Be stable enough thanks to equipping it with at least five-cantilever base with wheels, Have the right size of the back and seat to ensure a comfortable position of the body and easy movement, Include chair’s height regulation in the range between 40 cm – 50 cm counting from the floor (height of the seat should make it possible for the worker to place his/ her feet flat and at rest on the floor), CHAIR Equipping a workstation with a computer

Include chair’s back’s height regulation and regulation of back’s rake in the range: forward – 5 0 , backward – 30 0 , Be equipped with chair seat and back adequate with the curve of spine and thighs, Have the possibility to rotate 360 0 around its own vertical axis, Be equipped with armrests. Equipping a workstation with a computer CHAIR

The designing of the table should enable convenient placement and setting of elements of the workstation equipment, including various setting of the height of monitor and keyboard. The width and depth of the table should ensure: big enough area to use elements of the workstation equipment easily, placing and setting elements of equipment in an appropriate distance from the worker, i.e. in the range of his/ her upper limbs. TABLE Equipping a workstation with a computer

If a worker requests, or when the height of the chair makes it impossible to place his/ her feet flat on the floor, the workstation should be equipped with a footrest. FOOTREST Equipping a workstation with a computer

free and easy access of the worker to his/ her workstation, the keyboard should be placed 10 cm from the table’s edge, Other devices such as scanner or printer should be places within reach of the worker. LAYOUT Equipping a workstation with a computer

The distance between worker’s eyes and the screen should be from 40 to 75 cm. The upper edge of the monitor screen should not be located above worker’s eyes, Equipping a workstation with a computer LAYOUT 40 - 75cm

Electromagnetic field is stronger behind the monitor and for this reason it is advisable to place monitors in pairs, back to back, in the distance of at least 80 cm. The distance between the adjacent monitors should be at least 60 cm. The distance between a worker and the back of the adjacent monitor should be at least 80 cm. Does not apply to LCD monitors Equipping a workstation with a computer LAYOUT

If the results of the medical examination (ophthalmological), carried out in the course of prophylactic health care show the need to use corrective glasses during work with the monitor by some worker, the employer is obliged to provide him/ her with these glasses – in accordance with the ophthalmologist’s advice. GLASSES Health protection

The amount of money to be spent on purchasing corrective glasses for a worker is determined by the employer, however, this amount should be sufficient to buy glasses advised by the doctor. In case a worker chooses frames and glasses more expensive than the amount refunded by the employer, the difference is covered by the worker. Health protection GLASSES

Glasses (o r contact lenses) which the employer is obliged to provide, should be always changed for a new pair when, as a result of a successive medical examination, such change is advised by a ophthalmologist. If a worker feels that glasses used by him/ her can no longer be used in working with the monitor (because of worsened state of his/ her eyesight), he/ she may request the employer to be referred to the eyesight examination, even if the date of planned periodic examination is distant. Health protection GLASSES

ATTENTION!!! The employer is obliged to provide glasses to workers using monitor during their work, for at least half the daily working time. Health protection GLASSES

It should be ensured that: Work connected with using screen monitor is alternate with other types of work not overloading his/ her eyesight and performed in another body positions whereas no longer than 1 hour of continuous work with the s creen monitor or There is at least five-minute break, calculated as working hours, after each 5-minute break, included, calculated into working time, and after every hour, just as it was the case with the computer screen. BREAKS DURING KOMPUTER WORK Health protection

ATTENTION!!! It is prohibited to employ pregnant women for work with screen monitors for longer than 4 hours a day. WOMAN AT THE COMPUTER Health protection

Nowadays numerous young people, who work with the computer and for many hours have their eyes fixed on the computer screen complain about this syndrome. During work with the computer eyes are wide open, more open than during book reading. Also, they blink less frequently while it is blinking which moistens the surface of an eye and removes dust and germs from it. As a result, the eyelid does not distribute enough tears on the eye’s surface, and therefore the eye: runs dry, becomes sore, there i s a feeling of having sand in one’s eyes, DRY EYE SYNDROME – A THREAT FOR EYES IN WORK WITH THE COMPUTER Hard times for eyes

In order to protect oneself from these dangers, a few rules are to be followed. First of all, the following should be used or done while working with the computer for many hours: ‘ artificial tears’ – lubricant eye drops which sufficiently moisten the eyes, frequently blink, take breaks, close one’s eyes for longer, take eyes off the screen from time to time, look into a distance and then focus the eye on a nearby object – and repeat this exercise several times as it helps relax the muscles of the eye. DRY EYE SYNDROME – A FEW RULES Hard times for eyes

Still, the most important is to take proper care of the workplace. The monitor should be placed in such a way so that its central point is located about 10-20 cm below the eyes. Hard times for eyes DRY EYE SYNDROME – A FEW RULES

There should be no window in the background of the monitor, and it should be regulated in such a way so that the text on the screen is clear and readable, Also, the lighting is very important – the most favourable to the eyes is mixed lighting – overhead and on-the-spot, Hard times for eyes DRY EYE SYNDROME – A FEW RULES

Green colour relaxes the eye, therefore, it is good when there are numerous plants in the place if one’s work, Also, frequent ventilation of the rooms is favourable, especially when the rooms are filled with smoke. DRY EYE SYNDROME – A GREEN VIEW Hard times for eyes

Computer work, preformed daily for more than four hours, may be inconvenient and stren u ous because: Intensive visual work may lead to eyesight ailments, headaches, fatigue and weariness, Long-lasting immobilization may be a cause of back, shoulders and spine pain, and also of shallow breathing and slowing down blood circulation, particularly in legs, Bad work organization, quick pace, deadline pressure, isolation during work, no support in difficult situations, all these may lead to stress, which in turn leads to tiredness, weariness, frustration or occupational burnout. WORK WITH THE COMPUTER Worth knowing and remembering

If: You suffer from headaches, problems with eyes (sore eyes, running with tears etc.) – pay special attention to the lighting of the room, papers and documents, contrasts and refle ct ions on the screen as well as the distance and angle between your face and the computer screen, You suf f er from back and spine pains and numbness of legs – pay attention to your workstation, particularly to your seat’s height, backrest’s position and footrest, You feel psychic tension and tire dness – pay attention to how your work is organized, its pace, time pressure, team relationships. Worth knowing and remembering WORK WITH THE COMPUTER

[biurowi 3 - en] organization of office work

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[biurowi 3 - en] organization of office work