3 tips to avoid office injuries of the deskbound

What could be safer than an office job? Well, as it turns out, sitting at a desk for most of the day is fairly risky.

Richard Andrews, the MD of Inspiration Office, an office space and furniture consultancy, warns that even the "safest" jobs can lead to injuries and hurt the company's bottom line.

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"In fact, nearly 60% of employees doing office computer work say they have wrist pain. Long days hunched over keyboards can lead to cumulative trauma disorders and lower-back ailments," says Andrews.

Andrews has the following advice:

• Move beyond the idea that employees need only a desk and chair. "Ergonomics, or the process of safely and comfortably relating workers to their workspaces, can help by reducing the likelihood of work-related injuries through greater emphasis on a well-designed workspace," he says;

• Companies can provide a variety of furniture so that employees do not have to spend their whole day at a desk. Collaborative spaces, with couches and coffee tables, "encourage people to ... change their work stations to reduce repetitive actions"; and

• Provide enough space for employees to move. In most organisations, "80% of the budget is ... in the form of salaries, while only 7% is allocated to space: by leveraging the smallest cost-line item better, businesses can obtain a return in efficiency in the biggest cost-line item".