Creating a comfortable home workspace

07 April 2020 | Story Helen Swingler. Photo Pexels. Read time 7 min.
Setting up your workspace at home and avoiding the hunchback syndrome is about simple health and safety routines and practical ergonomics.
Setting up your workspace at home and avoiding the hunchback syndrome is about simple health and safety routines and practical ergonomics.

Sitting on a lumpy cushion working at your coffee table during lockdown? At the kitchen counter or on your bed? Suzanne Key, occupational health nurse practitioner at the University of Cape Town’s Safety, Health and Environmental unit in Properties and Services, has assisted with a guide to set up your workspace at home and avoid the hunchback syndrome. It’s about simple health and safety routines and practical ergonomics.

So, what is ergonomics exactly?

Ergonomics is defined as the science of fitting a workplace, whether an office or home space, to your working needs to ensure that you can work efficiently, productively and comfortably. Because you’re working from home, probably without your adjustable office chair and desk and other mod cons, you’re going to have to rig what you have – and be creative.

Your workspace

  • If you can, find a spot that offers the least disruption and distraction. (The roof is not considered a safe option.)
  • If possible, avoid soft seating. While it is possible to work from a couch or bed, use a small pillow to support your lower back and maintain the natural curve of your spine.
  • In these instances, don’t place your laptop directly on your lap. Use a magazine, hardcover book, sheet of cardboard or tray to prevent laptop burn on your legs.
  • Working on a dining room chair or kitchen stool may offer a hard surface, but they’re not ideal, so get up and move about regularly to avoid tilting your pelvis for too long.
  • If you’re sitting on a chair, position it so that your thighs are parallel with the floor or pointing slightly downwards.
  • Your feet should be flat on the floor. If not, use a footrest. A firm cushion, a pile of towels or box will do.
  • Your eyes should be about level with the top of your screen.
  • Your arms should be roughly at right angles, your elbows pointing slightly downwards. This will determine the height of your desk or chair. If you extend one arm, your hand should almost touch the centre of your screen.
  • If you don’t have a copy rest, use a recipe book stand or something rigid you can lean your copy against or clip to. (Carboard is wonderfully versatile.)
  • Move whenever you’re feeling stiff or uncomfortable. Get up to make a call.
  • Ensure you have enough light so that you’re not hunched towards your screen or further straining your eyes.

Your fitness

  • An exercise routine is essential to get you up and away from your work spot from time to time, even if it’s hanging washing, cleaning the house or walking the dog around the yard.
  • Move when you’re feeling uncomfortable. In these cases, a five-minute stretch on the floor is recommended. Be aware of your movement and stretch away from the sustained awkward posture dictated by your home workspace.
  • One of the dangers of keyboard work is repetitive strain injury as a result of repetitive movements and static work postures – the work-from-home hunchback. If you’re on a roll and can’t get up, practise simple routines at your computer: roll your eyes and blink them, roll your wrists, ankles and neck. Flex your fingers. Arch your back. Repeat – often.

Your eating and health habits

  • Fitness includes eating well. Your brain needs glucose for energy to sustain long hours in front of the computer.
  • Try to keep your home regime the same as your office regime: lunch at the same time, snacks at the same time.
  • Try not to diversify your work/home diet too much; eat the same kinds of food.
  • Eat your lunch away from your working space. The same goes for tea or snack breaks. Moving will refocus and reenergise you.
  • Drink plenty of water.
  • Get some sun, especially with winter approaching. Vitamin D is good for you, so get out on your balcony, in your garden, front stoep, yard, or open your windows during your breaks.

 

“Discipline yourself to get out of your Metallica or Hello Kitty PJs.”

Your mental health

  • Discipline yourself to get out of your Metallica or Hello Kitty PJs. Practise your usual grooming routines each morning.
  • If you can, keep an office routine. Try to start and end at the same times each day.
  • At the end of your day’s work session, pack away your work devices. (That’s right, step away from that keyboard.)
  • Find spaces and activities that separate your work and home lives.
  • Communicate with the outside world. Chat to your colleagues at a regular time, either videoconferencing or calling rather than emailing. Set up a work-related WhatsApp group. (This is not a vehicle for sharing the tuna bake recipe, though sharing is encouraged.)
  • Set up short, virtual coffee or tea meetings (having followed earlier advice to get out of your PJs).
  • Stay in touch with friends and family. Share that tuna bake recipe, offline.

Your home safety

  • If you are home alone, be aware of your security. Is the front door locked while you’re beavering away at your computer? Do you leave the window open with your computer in full view?
  • Check in with workmates who are alone. Establish a buddy system.
  • Keep your mobile phone close. Ensure you have the correct emergency numbers on speed dial.
  • Check your workspace for fire risks. Have you coupled too many things to one plug point? That’s a fire hazard.
  • Don’t hide your electrical cords under carpets and rugs or cover them with anything else. That’s also a fire hazard.
  • Switch off all your working devices at the end of your day.
  • Try not to smoke in your work area. It’s a habit you won’t be able to take back into the workplace with you once lockdown is over.

If you have any great working-from-home tips or experiences to share, please contact the news team at newsdesk@uct.ac.za.


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UCT’s response to COVID-19

COVID-19 is a global pandemic that caused President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare a national disaster in South Africa on 15 March 2020 and to implement a national lockdown from 26 March 2020. UCT is taking the threat of infection in our university community extremely seriously, and this page will be updated with the latest COVID-19 information. Please note that the information on this page is subject to change depending on current lockdown regulations.

Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, has in June 2022 repealed some of South Africa’s remaining COVID-19 regulations: namely, sections 16A, 16B and 16C of the Regulations Relating to the Surveillance and the Control of Notifiable Medical Conditions under the National Health Act. We are now no longer required to wear masks or limit gatherings. Venue restrictions and checks for travellers coming into South Africa have now also been removed.

In July 2022, the University of Cape Town (UCT) revised its approach to managing the COVID-19 pandemic on UCT campuses in 2022.
Read the latest document available on the UCT policies web page.

 

Campus communications

 
2022

Adjusting to our new environment 16:50, 23 June 2022
VC Open Lecture and other updates 17:04, 13 April 2022
Feedback from UCT Council meeting of 12 March 2022 09:45, 18 March 2022
UCT Council
March 2022 graduation celebration 16:45, 8 March 2022
Report on the meeting of UCT Council of 21 February 2022 19:30, 21 February 2022
UCT Council
COVID-19 management 2022 11:55, 14 February 2022
Return to campus arrangements 2022 11:15, 4 February 2022

UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre

On Wednesday, 20 July, staff from the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Faculty of Health Sciences came together with representatives from the Western Cape Government at the UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre at Forest Hill Residence to acknowledge the centre’s significance in the fight against COVID-19 and to thank its staff for their contributions. The centre opened on 1 September 2021 with the aim of providing quality vaccination services to UCT staff, students and the nearby communities, as well as to create an opportunity for medical students from the Faculty of Health Sciences to gain practical public health skills. The vaccination centre ceased operations on Friday, 29 July 2022.

With the closure of the UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre, if you still require access to a COVID-19 vaccination site please visit the CovidComms SA website to find an alternative.

 

“After almost a year of operation, the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Community of Hope Vaccination Centre, located at the Forest Hill residence complex in Mowbray, will close on Friday, 29 July 2022. I am extremely grateful and proud of all staff, students and everyone involved in this important project.”
– Vice-Chancellor Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng

With the closure of the UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre, if you still require access to a COVID-19 vaccination site please visit the CovidComms SA website to find an alternative.


Thank You UCT Community

Frequently asked questions

 

Global Citizen Asks: Are COVID-19 Vaccines Safe & Effective?

UCT’s Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM) collaborated with Global Citizen, speaking to trusted experts to dispel vaccine misinformation.



If you have further questions about the COVID-19 vaccine check out the FAQ produced by the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation (DTHF). The DTHF has developed a dedicated chat function where you can ask your vaccine-related questions on the bottom right hand corner of the website.

IDM YouTube channel | IDM website
 

 

“As a contact university, we look forward to readjusting our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in 2023 as the COVID-19 regulations have been repealed.”
– Prof Harsha Kathard, Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning

We are continuing to monitor the situation and we will be updating the UCT community regularly – as and when there are further updates. If you are concerned or need more information, students can contact the Student Wellness Service on 021 650 5620 or 021 650 1271 (after hours), while staff can contact 021 650 5685.

 

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