Features Good Ergonomic Chairs Should Possess
Ergonomics, also known as human engineering, is the science of refining the design of products and optimizing them for human use. In the workplace, this process can remove risk factors that lead to musculoskeletal injuries, allowing for improved human performance and productivity.
An ergonomic chair is designed to take into account considerations such as posture, support, comfort and health to best aid the human body. Here are several features a good ergonomic chair should possess — especially in a 24-hour intensive-use environment:
- Adjustable seat height: Office chair seat height should be easily adjustable, since the position of your body changes throughout the day. Some individual users may be taller than others, so an adjustable feature facilitates customization. Seat heights that range from 16 to 21 inches tend to work for most users. The optimal seat height should let you place your feet flat on the floor.
- Swivel tilt: The swivel feature on an office chair helps ease the tension caused by twisting your body at your desk or workstation. A good ergonomic chair will allow the seat to tilt for correct positioning of the pelvis. Easy rotation also enables users to reach areas of their desk without straining.
- Lumbar support: The lumbar spine has a natural inward curve. Prolonged sitting without support can lead to slouching, which strains the lower spine and pelvis. Lumbar support is perhaps one of the most essential ergonomic chair features that encourages proper posture.
- Headrests: A headrest can be particularly beneficial for those who suffer from back problems or need extra head or neck support. Headrests reduce tension in the shoulders and upper torso.
- Materials: Office chair materials should be comfortable and not cause the user’s back to sweat. High-end ergonomic chairs are typically made with leather or velvet.
- Armrests: This feature helps reduce tension in the upper body and allows the shoulders to relax. Adjustable armrests are the most ideal, since they can decrease the chance of slouching in your chair. The armrest feature also helps align elbow and wrist to better relieve strain. Armrests can be lowered so you can pull your chair closer to achieve a comfortable sitting position.
Choosing an ergonomic office chair in the workplace can help you significantly reduce the chances of developing long-term injuries. This specific style of chair conforms to your body’s shape, keeps joints and tissues in an optimal neutral position, and is customizable to fit each user’s needs.
Ergonomic chairs in 24/7 intensive-use environments can:
- Reduce musculoskeletal disorders
- Improve posture
- Lessen back and leg pain
- Decrease neck strain
- Improve productivity in the workplace
- Reduce user stress
- Increase engagement
It’s important to implement ergonomic principles in 24/7 environments such as call centers. Employees spend long shifts in prolonged sitting positions while on the phone. Chairs need to be comfortable and adaptable so they can adjust to every individual’s size and shape.
Intensive-use office chairs are a smart investment that don’t need to be replaced as often as traditional chairs. They can improve the quality of an intensive-use workspace, offer the support and functionality for better work performance, and reduce the amount of sick days taken by employees.
The Benefits Of Ergonomic Office Furniture
It's hard to overstate the value of ergonomic office furniture for intense, round-the-clock work environments. The long hours employees spend at their desks mean more opportunities for discomfort, distraction or health problems — not to mention the expenses that can result from them. Supportive, ergonomic furniture can help.
As dispatchers responding to emergency calls or security officers monitoring closed-circuit casino cameras, these workers need to do their jobs with a high degree of concentration and efficiency. Whether they are able to focus on the tasks at hand or are distracted by discomfort, pain and troublesome health outcomes depends on what type of furniture their office or control center provides.
In an intensive-use setting, ergonomics — the science of workplace design, with a focus on products that optimize employee performance — makes all the difference. By enabling proper posture and reducing muscle strain, ergonomic furniture can make a significant positive impact on a 24-hour workplace. To demonstrate that, here’s a closer look at some of the important benefits of ergonomic office furniture:
- More focused workers — Whether in a government agency, an emergency dispatch center or a process control environment, the right chairs, desks and other ergonomic equipment can eliminate the distraction of physical pain while employees are working. In fact, this is one of the major ergonomic chair benefits. When employees aren’t concerned about their aching shoulders, tight backs or throbbing wrists, they’re freer to focus on their jobs. This makes your workplace more productive and efficient.
- Fewer workplace injuries — An ergonomic 24/7 chair or standing desk benefits health, too. As it keeps workers comfortable, it also encourages proper blood flow, minimizing muscle fatigue and lowering the risks for neck, back and hip pain. This is not only good for your workers’ physical well-being, but by reducing workplace injuries it’s also good for your organization’s bottom line.
- An improved workplace — Nobody has to tell you that good employees are the lifeblood of any successful operation — and being able to offer top talent benefits such as proper desk height and supportive chairs is a great way to retain their services. For this reason, maybe the most significant ergonomic chair advantages are how they improve day-to-day life for your workers and make your organization a more desirable place to work.
What Is A Bariatric Chair?
For big and tall people, going to work every day can be more of a struggle than their co-workers may realize. Not only do they have to cope with routine workplace stress, they have to do so while using office furniture that may be inadequate for their body type. In recent years, employers and office managers have begun to recognize the need for office chairs that are built specifically for the needs of big and tall people. These bariatric operator chairs and other types of ergonomic seating can help big and tall people sit comfortably during the workday. What’s more, these chairs may help prevent health issues, such as sciatica or impaired circulation, which can occur when larger people sit in chairs designed for an average-sized person.
Bariatric chair requirements must take into account a wide variety of body types. Typically, bariatric seating is constructed to support people who weigh at least 500 pounds comfortably. Some manufacturers build seating that can support up to 1,000 pounds, most frequently for use in a health care office environment.
Sturdier Seating With Bariatric Office Seating
Concept Seating’s 3156 Bariatric Chair is a good example of bariatric office seating, combining numerous specially designed features to create an office chair that provides support and comfort for larger individuals. These features include:
- Seven-leg base: Providing more stability and ease of movement compared to the standard five-leg base, the seven-leg base of the 3156 Bariatric Chair is the foundation of its support.
- Adjustable support: The chair’s specifically engineered tilt, seat depth and height adjustments allow the user to be comfortable — regardless of his or her body type.
- Bariatric arm rests: The chair’s heavy-duty arm rests can be adjusted for height and width, providing the proper support for anyone.
- Articulating headrest: Concept Seating’s bariatric office chair is available with an articulated headrest as an option. Its six positions mean it can be used as a headrest, a neck roll or placed out of the way, depending on the user’s needs.
Addressing the needs of larger people in the workplace is becoming a more prominent concern for many employers, and bariatric office furniture is an increasingly popular solution. Concept Seating’s bariatric office chair has been recognized as one of the best products in this growing segment. Take a closer look and learn how we can help meet your employees’ diverse needs today.
The Benefits Of 24-Hours Office Chairs
In any intense work environment, a 24-hour chair provides invaluable support. Workers who have 24-hour office chairs enjoy round-the-clock, durable seating that stays comfortable in demanding environments and adapts to changing personnel. Whether you’re seeking seating for ambulance dispatchers or utility process control employees, the best office chair for 24-hour use can make a huge difference in your staff’s daily focus, mental sharpness and physical comfort.
Does your workplace have a call center, control room or dispatch center? Do you have employees who handle long shifts where they need to stay alert? If so, quality chairs could be a huge asset to your business or facility.
How 24/7 Ergonomic Chairs Help
Whenever your workers spend long hours on the job, a 24-hour chair becomes vital. All those sedentary hours can wreak havoc on the body, but the appeal of ergonomic 24/7 seating is that it combats potential damage before it occurs. Here are some ergonomic chair advantages that demonstrate the value of intensive-use chairs:
- Reduction in employee physical fatigue
- Enhanced mental sharpness among workers
- Less distraction on the job
- Chairs that meet higher testing standards for increased strength and reliability
- A business investment that doesn’t need to be routinely replaced
What Are Heavy-Duty 24-Hour Office Chairs?
The 24-hour office chair is a resilient, thoroughly tested, long-lasting seating solution that can withstand many hours of use — even at high weights or with changing personnel. It undergoes rigorous testing, including cyclic stepped loads, in order to receive classification as an intensive-use chair. At Concept Seating, we offer a variety of different options, including operator, task, bariatric and high-back chairs. Each is designed to support workers in high-stress, 24-hour job environments. Our designs also incorporate adjustability, from lumbar and armrests to seat depth and chair height.
Why Choose Concept Seating
When you’re looking for the best office chair for 24-hour use, there’s no better choice than Concept Seating. The chairs we manufacture are tested beyond the highest standards in the industry — and we have FNEW 83-269E (U.S.) and FIRA 055-2009 (U.K.) certifications to prove it. We also are proud to offer an innovative Ergo Air Suspension System and ergonomic adjustability to make our chairs as supportive and comfortable as possible. Our designs come in 10 different color and fabric options to make it easier to choose a model that’s right for your location. They are specially engineered to provide support that lasts all day — and all night.
Dangers and Effects of Prolonged Sitting
Sitting at your desk might seem like the least dangerous thing you can do in a workplace. Compared with operating a forklift, working the high steel on a construction site, or working deep underground in a coal mine, sitting at a desk all day doesn’t seem all that risky. However, just because health hazards associated with a desk job are not obvious doesn’t mean they don’t exist. In fact, research has shown that sitting for prolonged periods every day can have serious effects on your health. Here are some of the biggest dangers of sitting all day — threats to your long-term health or that of your employees:
- Poor circulation.When you’re sitting for extended periods, your circulation slows down, especially in your legs. Fluids can pool in your ankles, creating health issues ranging from swollen ankles to varicose veins, and even potentially fatal blood clots.
- Back injury.Sitting causes a muscle in your abdomen called the psoas to constrict, which pulls the upper lumbar portion of your spine forward. Because your upper-body weight is not evenly distributed along the arch of your spine, you can suffer a herniated disk in your lower back. Sitting too long also causes the disks between your vertebrae to stiffen because they don’t expand and contract in the same way as when you’re moving.
- Shoulder and neck pain.Slouching or craning your neck forward to read your computer screen or see your work while sitting misaligns the vertebrae in your neck, which can strain your shoulders and neck muscles.
- Heart disease.Some studies suggest that prolonged sitting is correlated with high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol, while others claim people with sedentary lifestyles are twice as likely to develop cardiovascular conditions as more active folks.
- Weak muscles.If you sit for too long, you’re not getting enough exercise. That can lead to excessively weak muscles in your abdomen, hips and back, which can make it more difficult to get around as you get older.
Although the health risks of sitting at a desk all day can be serious, you can take steps to reduce those risks. For example, getting up and moving around hourly can help ward off many of the degenerative effects of sitting all day at work. However, not everyone has the luxury of being able to decide when they can step away from their desks for a break. Many professionals, such as emergency dispatchers, aren’t free to roam at will, if at all.
For these people, a specially designed operator chair manufactured by Concept Seating can help. Our 24/7 chairs, such as the high back model, have adjustable features to ensure proper sitting posture regardless of body type. These chairs can help prevent back pain, relieve shoulder pain and improve blood flow throughout the body. The right chair will also help distribute body weight evenly, making it the best chair for sitting all day. If your position demands that you sit at a desk all day and you’re concerned about the health risks, take a look at our chairs to see how Concept Seating can help.
