It's not what employees can do for their work station, it's what their work stations can do for them.
Everyone on campus, from students to staff, is in constant contact with work spaces that might be harmful to their health.
Ergonomics is the study of people's relationships with their work environment, which can include computers, keyboards, boxes and furniture. Other factors included in ergonomics are the placement and height of these objects in relation to an individual's comfort, lighting and posture.
Without adjusting a work space to fit an individual's needs, work-related health conditions can result. Some examples are carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow, tendonitis, thoracic outlet syndrome and bursitis.
Larry Rush, physical therapist and ergonomics associate at Olin Health Center, said students who use laptops on desks designed for writing can develop problems from typing on a desk that's too high. Writing desks are usually 29 inches high, which is not an ergonomically sound height for typing.
Ergonomics is a major priority for the MSU department of Construction, Maintenance and Interior Design, interior designer Deena Whitbeck said. She said the department is responsible for almost all the buildings on campus, and they design offices, newer classrooms and cafeterias.
Designing a room to be ergonomically sufficient is sometimes difficult, depending on the project, Whitbeck said.
"When you're designing, you have quality, budget and time," Whitbeck said, adding that it's difficult to balance all factors.
Ergonomics is not just important in office or classroom settings but everywhere on campus, Rush said. The physical plant, veterinary clinic and workers dealing with the milking machines are also subject to harmful medical conditions.
Some faculty members have benefited from on-campus ergonomics staff members. Scott Thomas, division manager of client services for the Academic Computing & Network Services department, said some of his faculty was evaluated.
"They look at what the person's work environment is and come back with recommendations," he said. "There are some things that are pretty obvious and others they have to point out."
Thomas said one of the recommendations he was given was for some staff to use tablet personal computers instead of desktops.
Other problems often found are with lighting and using a computer mouse, Rush said. Most of the lighting on campus is too bright, which causes strain on an individual's eyesight, he said.
The computer mouse can be too far away from the middle of an individual's torso, which is in part due to the numeric keypad on the right side of the keyboard. There are ergonomic keyboards available that do not have the numeric keypad in the way, Rush said.
