ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an insight into factors that are common causes of complaint amongst the workforce. Ergonomists are typically concerned with the impact of three main factors in an office environment: noise, lighting and thermal comfort. In an office that incorporates any heavy machinery, such as printing equipment or mail-sorting machines, vibration is also likely to be of interest. Direct lighting, which is typical of many offices and where most of the light is directed downward in an inverted cone shape, often results in the light being reflected off surfaces such as desks and documents causing indirect glare and hard shadows. Computer users should, ideally, sit parallel to windows. They should avoid sitting facing a window, which might result in direct glare, and they should avoid sitting with their backs to a window, which can result in problems with reflections on their screens.
