Three office health hazards and what you can do to guard against them

Even though you are unlikely to come across industrial accidents involving heavy machinery when working in an office, there are nevertheless certain health and safety concerns that you should be aware of and try to prevent in order to ensure that the working environment is safe for you and your colleagues. If left unchecked, these potential hazards could have an impact on your productivity levels, not to mention have a serious impact on your health. Here are three office health hazards and what you can do to guard against them.

Eyestrain

Thanks to the modern fast-paced, technological lifestyle, a majority of people now spend a large proportion of their time looking at a screen, and the workplace is no different. From laptop and computer screens to smartphones and online Zoom meetings, you might easily go through a working day without looking up from a screen. However, this constant focusing on screens can cause painful eyestrain, which can eventually lead to eye sensitivity and migraines. Computer glasses help to relieve eyestrain by filtering out the harmful blue light that is emitted by screens and reducing screen glare. This increases your eye comfort when in front of a screen for long periods of time, therefore helping to reduce eyestrain.

Ergonomic injuries

As well as eyestrain, spending a lot of time sat at your desk working on your computer can cause muscle injuries. If you are not sat correctly or using the right equipment, you can soon experience strains in your back, wrists, and neck, amongst other aches and pains, that if left untreated can become debilitatingly painful. Prevent this by using an ergonomic chair that is specially designed to support your back and maintain good posture. Ensure that it is set at the right height for you to remove the need for crouching over your screen, and make sure that you are sat straight in a straight line with the chair, keyboard, and monitor. You could also invest in a wrist support to accompany your keyboard to use when typing, which can help to prevent the development of repetitive strain injury from frequent keyboard use.

Slips, trips, and falls

Is your office space full of a lot of clutter that you have no storage space for? Are your desks and computer systems set out in a confusing, cluttered way to maximize the number of staff? If so, there is a high possibility that your workforce could become the unfortunate victims of slips, trips, and falls. Trailing cables, bulky items left in the corridor, and spillages are day-to-day occurrences that can all too easily become a major problem that could even lead to serious injuries and even your organization being sued for damages. You can prevent slips, trips, and falls by organizing the layout of your office for better maneuverability and reducing the amount of clutter in your office, and cleaning up spillages as soon as they occur.

It’s much better to be safe than sorry.