All employees have a right to safety within their working environment. An employer must provide an environment that ensures the future health of all their employees.
Occupational Health and Safety is becoming increasingly popular within all industries and workplaces.

Rules and regulations that advise and maintain keeping the workplace safe, will greatly decrease the number of office accidents, deaths and incidents. Although the employer does have a responsibility to their workers, the individual worker should be able to determine if their work habits can create injury to themselves as well.

This guide below, although not comprehensive will allow all employers and employees to have an understanding on what they're requirements are in an office. Check your local laws regarding Occupational Health and Safety as they do differ from state and country.

GENERAL OFFICE

The office should be neat and tidy with no obstacles and areas where an employee can fall and injure them selves. This includes wires and cords secured safely; carpet and mats are non-slip and have no frays that may trip an individual.

All filing cabinets must be placed in a position where they are not an obstacle. All drawers should always be pushed in and not left open.

CHAIR

Check all chairs regularly for faults.

The chair must be comfortable and have back and height adjustments.

The chairs must be stable and not provide incident of tipping.

Check the armrests of the individual chairs; they should not be able to jam fingers under a desk when they are pushed in.

DESK

The desk should be designed to ensure all employees knees fit underneath the table correctly.

A work desk may need height adjustments if it's shared amongst employees.

It should provide an area for the computer to be used properly.

A footstool should be placed under the desk if your employee's feet do not sit comfortable on the floor.

COMPUTER
The computer screen should be placed in a position that is directly in front of employee's eyes.

It mustn't be too high or positioned too low so that an employee needs to bend or align their body in an awkward position for use.

The keyboard should be directly in front of the computer and not to the side.

Proper wrist support should be provided.

The screen should be free from sun glare or reflection.

The computer mouse should fit the employee's hand comfortably; it should also be used close to the keyboard and not from a distance.

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