The Benefits of Ergonomic Office Furniture

Within the last 20 years, ergonomic and ADA regulations have had the greatest impact on the way employers look at their employees and their facility. Designing and planning with a universal concept has not only allowed facilities to comply with federal laws, but has reduced workers compensation costs and made the workplace more healthful by employing ergonomic office furniture.

As an office furniture manufacturer, our role is not that of the ergonomist, but that of solution provider. MAiSPACE works with clients to identify those ergonomic issues that can be reduced or eliminated with proper office furniture.

Of primary importance in purchasing ergonomic office furniture is to identify the ergonomic risk factors prevalent in your facility. Most workers in today’s computerized office spend the bulk of their day sitting. While sitting takes less energy to hold the torso erect and balanced, it also introduces certain disadvantages to the body. The natural curve of the lumbar flattens in a sitting position, which increases disk pressure. Chairs can also apply pressure to the back of the legs, cutting off blood flow to the muscles. These are all contributing factors in producing lower back pain, which statistic show account for more lost work time that the common cold.

MAiSPACE

MAiCHAIR, the most affordable, fully functional ergonomic seating line on the market today, is MAiSPACE’s contribution to office furniture seating. MAiCHAIR incorporates all the comfort, style and adjustment features usually reserved for much more expensive chairs. MAiCHAIR’s flexible backrest conforms to the spine and provides critical support in the lumbar region. The contoured seat cushion and waterfall edge improves blood flow, and the syncro-tilt mechanism helps maintain the correct posture through a full range of motion.

MAiCHAIR’s adjustable features include a 5 position headrest, an engineered, flexible plastic backrest, adjustable arms, a lightweight five star base. State of the art in systems furniture, its syncro-tilt provides adjustable tension resistance, pneumatic seat height adjustment and multi position tilt-lock control in one easy to adjust mechanism.

Other human factors that need to be addressed, is motor function and vision. The human hand has been called our most valuable industrial resource, yet it also the most susceptible to a host of trauma and motor disorders. Keying, mousing, writing, grasping and handling paper work and manuals, put strain on the hand’s fine motor functions. Vision is labor intensive, providing us upwards of 85% of the information we receive from our surroundings. The eyes are vulnerable to numerous environmental factors including glare, inappropriate display technology and awkward workplace design that forces the worker to compensate for poor viewing conditions with poor body postures.

MAiSPACE’s primary focus is our systems products. An important advantage of our ergonomic office furniture systems is the ability to make the workstation ergonomically correct. The MAiSPACE system is flexible and adjustable to meet individual preferences. The user creates a comfortable environment by determining the optimal placement of panel-hung components, adjustable at 1 inch increments; having flexible non-handed orientation for the workstation; and curvilinear work surfaces with cascade edges. Height adjustable keyboard trays and tool rail tiles allow for easy access to work tool. Incorporating the effectiveness and well-being aspects of ergonomics into office furniture purchases can produce cost benefits in terms of significant reduction of workman's compensation, insurance expenditures and absenteeism and most importantly increased productivity through worker satisfaction. Additionally, features that such as tackable acoustic tiles, work tool rails or slat wall, white boards and non-handed components with off-modular capabilities, allow workers to be both productive and express their individual identities. Office furniture workstations become a safe and comfortable workspace.

In 1968, the first iteration of the office furniture workstation was introduced. The idea spawned a workplace revolution that not only changed the way office furniture looked but was able to adapt to the way people worked. The idea was to have the furniture components -- the partitions and the worksurfaces and shelves attached to them -- modular and completely adjustable, so that offices could be made to fit the individual rather than the masses. And because of the proximity of shelves to desks, paperwork and other materials were easily accessible, not filed away in cabinets or remote bookcases. MAiSPACE has taken those original ergonomic office furniture concepts and created a beautiful, stackable office furniture system that also has floor to ceiling capabilities. MAiSPACE designs are far removed from Scott Adam’s “Dilbert” looking monolithic office furniture cubicle. And with the introduction of beautiful, complementary, free standing wood office furniture, MAiSPACE allows companies to create a visually appealing footprint while meeting the needs of their employees, making them productive and comfortable.

Thinking outside the “box”, MAiSPACE’s design incorporates flexibility and function to allow workspaces to look attractive while being completely efficient. The ability to stack and de-stack panel frames provides staggered wall heights all the way to the ceiling and removes the boxy feel of most office furniture. With over 15 tile options, including three types of glass, on 3 1⁄2 “ thick panels, MAiSPACE promotes visibility and privacy, simultaneously. You can get the architectural feel of a substantial office furniture workstation with excellent acoustical properties, without feeling “boxed in.”
MAiSPACE

For those who want an office furniture solution for their building and their employees, they can be assured that by using MAiSPACE their goals can be met beautifully. You no longer have to choose between function and fabulous. Our in-house design service can show you how. MAiSPACE will provide a professional design team to produce the best and most cost effective layout, not only to satisfy your current staffing demands, but also to help you plan ahead. Our designers understand your facility issues and employ the most appropriate ergonomic office product applications. They can offer suggestions for our fabrics and finishes that will make your office beautiful and functional.