Skip to Content
Search
 > TRU Home > Occupational Health & Safety > Working & Learning Safely at TRU > Ergonomics > Monitor
Occupational Health & Safety
Health & Safety News
H1N1 influenza
Roles and Responsibilities
Our Commitment to Safety
JOHSC
Training
Working & Learning Safely at TRU
Emergency Preparedness & Response
Incident Reporting and Investigation
Risk Management and Inspections
Forms and Checklists
Safety Resources and External Links
FAQs
Health Alert
   

Ergonomics - Monitor

The monitor is an important part of a computer workstation. It needs to be in the correct place to ensure that it allows you to work to the best of your ability and with comfort.

The monitor and the keyboard should be detachable. Older computers had the monitor and keyboard joined together which did not allow for ergonomic adjustment. There should be no workstations with non-detachable monitor and keyboard at TRU .

The centre of the monitor screen should be 4-5 inches below eye level (this equates to having the top line of text at eye level). Doing this will prevent holding the head in awkward positions to see the screen.

The screen's surface should be at 13-28 inches from your torso. A rule of thumb guide is to have it an armslength away from you. This reduces problems caused by electromagnetic fields (EMF's) given off by the monitor. EMF's are of concern to pregnant females in their first trimester. New monitors are now manufactured according to the Swedish standard and will not pose a problem.

WorkSafe BC  indicate that they are not concerned by EMF's given off from monitors.

The screen should be able to swivel from side to side to allow people who's main function is data entry to still see the screen comfortably when they want while keying. In data entry the document should be central and the monitor to one side. This compares to people who are involved in word processing where the monitor should be in their central field of view and the document should be off centre.

The screen height should be adjustable to accommodate people of different heights using the same workstation. At TRU workstations which have had an ergonomic assessment completed tend to have the monitor resting on packages of printer paper to allow for quick and easy height adjustment.

Depending on the location of the monitor in the room an anti-glare screen may need to be obtained to prevent eyestrain. When light bounces off the glass surface of the screen it can make viewing almost impossible. If the glare does not come off the monitor directly it may come from other surfaces. If the source of the glare can't be moved then an anti-glare screen maybe necessary. Glass anti-glare screens are preferable to nylon mesh screens which can make reading difficult. If an anti-glare screen is installed it must be cleaned regularily to prevent dust build-up.