Workstation Risk Assessment for one person at Channel 4 in Leeds

Course: Workstation Risk Assessment

Location: Leeds City Centre

Dates: August 2023

Attended by: One Person at Channel 4 HQ in Leeds

The help of Fit4Work was requested by Channel 4.  A workstation risk assessment was necessary for an employee who was experiencing upper and lower back pain while working at their workstation.

Angela, the Director of Fit4Work started the assessment process by discussing her issues in private to determine the full extent of the musculoskeletal pain she was dealing with. It took approximately twenty minutes to complete this.

While at work, she assessed her, paying close attention to her sitting posture and how she interacted with her workstation equipment. For example, position of her mouse, keyboard and telephone, height and angle of her screen, etc. It should be remembered that the workstation needs to fit the person (providing they have correct sitting posture) the person doesn’t fit the workstation.

Angela noticed the following:

The lady was sitting slumped at her workstation.  After using a hands-on approach to correct her posture, Angela was unable to move the chair’s backrest forwards enough so it could support her in this position. Her lower legs were not fully supported due to the seat pan being too short and narrow.  She needed a chair with good lumbar support, a backrest that can move forward, and an adjustable seat pan with a larger surface area.

It wasn’t enough to just correct her sitting posture, the height of her chair needed to be raised so that her flexed elbow joints were above the desk, this was in order to prevent her using her upper trapezius muscles to hitch up her arms.  A footrest was suggested to fill the gap between her feet and the floor since her feet did not reach after raising the height of her chair.

The keyboard was positioned too far forward on her desk, causing her to overreach with her upper limbs to type, which caused her to become rounded in her thoracic spine.  Thus, the keyboard was placed approximately 4 inches from the edge of her desk.

When reading text on her screen, the lady tilted her head slightly backwards because of her Varifocal glasses. To improve her vision through her glasses and adjust her head and neck position, she was instructed to lower the height of her screen.

There was a lot of clutter around and under her workstation. To prevent trip hazards, employees’ work areas should have safe access and exits. It was recommended that a locker should be used for all her personal belongings.

It should be noted that where possible, all the adjustments were made at the end of the assessment.  Recommendations, along with equipment suggestions, were typed out and emailed to her line manager.