Materials and colors are only the starting point to choosing the ideal office desk capable of reducing eye strain, stress and improve general organization around the work environment.
Discover here the fundamentals for the ideal office desk!
Have you ever used a pc in the dark or worked on a fully white surface?
We hope not since these practices can negatively impact your health by increasing eye strain and reducing focus over time.
Colors, materials and structural elements of an office desk are indeed factors can directly impact workers’ wellbeing and affect their health.
Regulations govern the choice of the office desk
To this end, there are specific rules and regulations to keep in mind when designing workstations for the so-called “video terminal operators“. This definition identifies people who, according to article no. 172 of Legislative Decree 81/08, spend over 20 hours a week in front of “equipment with alphanumeric and graphic screens” or, in simpler terms, those who use PCs and smart devices for the majority of their day.
This category of workers can develop specific medical deficiencies/problems and related to their job, starting from visual fatigue, and progressing to spinal deformation. To protect professionals, legislation establishes measures for that companies need adopt and guarantee the maximum level of wellbeing for its employees.
The ability to periodically detach from the workstation to rest their eyes, as well as the use of adjustable height desks, are just a few of the many things you can do to make your daily work more pleasant.
Which factors are needed to be considered when designing your ideal office desk?
When designing the ideal office desk, the worktop is an element chosen with the utmost attention, since it comes into direct contact with the worker.
In addition to choosing the most suitable color and finish, desktops must meet minimum requirements in terms of resistance to light, damp heat, temperature changes and cold liquids. Scratch resistance and dirt retention are two other features to be evaluated to ensure a longer product life.
Finally, formaldehyde emissions must also be kept under control according to UNI EN 717/2: the finished surfaces of desks made of wooden panels must meet the minimum emission requirement for this pollutant, which can cause eye and mucous membrane disorders with concentrations higher than 0.1 ppm.
The color of the office desk affects the user experience
The choice of the office desks’ color is perhaps the most important factor for ensuring the wellbeing and ergonomics of the video terminal operators.
The color of the worktop must adhere to very precise indexes for reflection and reflectance, bringing the ideal choice towards neutral and uniform colors such as light gray, ivory or finishes in light wood like bleached oak.
The current legislation, to certify the color of a work surface, requires laboratory tests that verify the specular reflection of the surface according to the UNI EN 13722 test method and the reflectance of the surface according to UNI EN 1371. Optical white and black are absolutely to be avoided when choosing desktops: the former too reflective, the latter guilty of absorbing too much light.
Furthermore, saturated and bright colors cannot be used either: the best way to give an accent of color to the workplace is to use chromatic accents in furnishing accessories, fabrics, acoustic screens and elements in partitioning walls.