Working from home is now common, in Switzerland as well as abroad. Many companies encourage their employees to stay at home, whilst more and more solopreneurs start their own business. What are the ergonomic recommendations for preserving your health when working from home?

Your body is the same in every context: the advice that we provide on our DSE training (Display Screen Equipment) is valid under every circumstance. Furthermore, you should beware three hazards specifically related to working from home or a remote location:

• seats at home (e.g., kitchen chair, sofa) or wrongly adjusted office chairs will not support your pelvis as well as a well adjusted ergonomic chair;
• the more you work on a laptop or tablet, the more you strain your neck;
• due to a lack of social interactions, you will tend to take less breaks.

The ergonomic risks related to the seat are illustrated below: an ergonomic office chair with a good lumbar support, a kitchen chair with just a high backrest, and a couch. To work in good conditions, you need to invest in a good office chair, which you can purchase from approx. CHF 450 ($450). Make sure that you read this article before buying.

The pictures below show how you can create an ergonomic workstation in an Ikea closet. If you do not have a proper office chair, use a lumbar cushion on your kitchen chair. 

If you use two systems (e.g., a desktop PC and a laptop), you can consider a connector to share a keyboard, a mouse and a screen which allows you to flip from one system to the other with a mere switch.

Regarding the breaks: to protect your lumbar discs, you should stand at least every 30 min, be it for 2-3 minutes only (coffee break, bathroom, phone, chat). Your neck and eyes need to relax even more frequently, but for a shorter duration. These breaks seem frequent; however, bear in mind that they are simply biomechanical breaks. They do not force you to take an intellectual (or psychological) break, which would suppose that you take time to re-focus on your task. With a biomechanical break, you don't waste any time...

​If you can install it, I recommend the Workrave (Windows) or Time Out (iOS / Mac) freewares, which will prompt you to take breaks if you don't take them naturally.

If you want to receive personal advice on your workplace ergonomics, please choose between the two modalities below. 

The literature is unanimous: behavioral interventions are not effective when carried out in isolation. This does not mean that training employees is useless: it just implies that it should be part of a broader, well structured program. 

Erg'OH Conseil's specific training method, based on ergonomics and on paramedical sciences, follows 4 main rules:

• never tell someone what to do: rather, let feel the difference between different options (i.e. train the proprioception);
• follow a very structured approach: go from general to specific, from simple to complicated, from static to dynamic, from feet to head (caudal to cranial) and then arms;
• have a 360° approach: work at the same time on the working conditions (ergonomics) and on the individual behaviors (postural reeducation), always with an eye on corporate culture (its current state, and how to make it evolve)
• bear in mind that the broader goal is to prevent musculoskeletal disorders (MSD): trainees should be able to apply the training to all hazardous situations, incl. non-professional ones.

The training structure is illustrated below, as we use it e.g., with paramedics and healthcare staff. Steps 1-5 take place in a theory room (although the participants are already very active) and last approx. 2hrs. At least 2hrs should be dedicated to practicing in real-life situations.

In the second part (field training), we have observed that the trainer should proceed as follows:

• ask participants to choose the situations they wish to discuss (e.g., for paramedics: how to raise a stretcher from the ground);
• let a few of them show how they work in these situations;
• after each demo, open up the discussion on the biomechanical implications of the observed postures and movements (go into the details, isolating each relevant joint and muscle). This helps illustrating the theory;
• split the discussion between "now" (in the current setup, what should I do with my body to reduce the risk?) and "in an ideal world" (which ergonomic improvements should be carried out to make our life easier and safer?). Make sure that the proposals are realistic and escalated to the management;
• demonstrate the movement only if necessary (i.e. if none of the participants has shown the best way), emphasizing each step. Let participants try out, and guide them slowly. 

At the end of the training, participants should be familiar with all the aspects of the lifting or carrying sequence illustrated below. 

Of course, such training is dense and brings a lot of content. Hence, splitting it over 2 sessions is appreciated, when feasible. Furthermore, participants are made aware of the fact that changing habits can only occur one step at a time. Hence, they receive at the beginning of the training a template sheet in which they can define and arrange their own goals.

The feedback we have been receiving for years is unanimously positive. Participants report to have learned and understood a lot about how the body works, even if they received prior manual handling training. Employers report to see behaviors and culture evolve, and appreciate to receive a first-level ergonomic assessment as part of the training. 

For the last 25 years, the Swiss association Citizen@Work-Swiss (a member of the European network Citizen@Work) has been organizing the Swiss Price "Santé-Entreprise" (health at work). The price has a double goal:

• to help companies that invest in Switzerland in the health, well-being and safety of their employees be better known
• to inspire society through the initiatives and experience of some.

The winners receive a check as well as a professional video clip. Hereunder is the clip that was offered to the city of Lausanne, winner in 2017.
Apply too until 30th October 2017 using the application documents!