The need to accommodate monitor height changes between sitting and standing

Abstract

Recently, the rate at which sit-to-stand workstations are being introduced into the workplace has seen a dramatic increase. Aside from adjusting the height of the desk when transitioning from sitting to standing, there is a lack of literature regarding the necessary adjustments to other equipment associated with the workstation. To better understand some of these limitations, 16 participants stood and sat at a sit-to-stand workstation while adhering to current Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Guidelines for Office Ergonomics. Transitioning between sitting and standing while adhering to CSA guidelines resulted in a 3.9 cm difference in monitor height relative to work surface between sitting and standing. Results from this investigation support the notion that monitor height adjustments relative to the work surface are necessary when utilising sit-to-stand workstations – with the implementation to practice message being that both sitting and standing configurations need to be assessed and accommodated in the workstation configuration.

Practitioner summary: Limited guidelines exist in the necessary adjustments to equipment associated with sit-to-stand workstations. Transitioning between sitting and standing resulted in a 3.9 cm difference in monitor height relative to work surface between sitting and standing. This supports that monitor height adjustments relative to the workstation are necessary when using sit-to-stand workstations.

Keywords:

• Office ergonomics
• sit to stand workstation
• sit-stand
• monitor height
• lumbar spine

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada [227638] and Centre of Research Expertise for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders (CRE-MSD).