Oct 29, 2007 - http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/terg20. A comparative study of three different kinds of school furniture. Jens Aagaard a. & Annette Storr-Paulsen.
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Ergonomics Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/terg20
A comparative study of three different kinds of school furniture a
Jens Aagaard & Annette Storr-Paulsen a
b
Hansen Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen , Denmark
b
Municipality of Elsinore , Denmark Published online: 29 Oct 2007.
To cite this article: Jens Aagaard & Annette Storr-Paulsen (1995) A comparative study of three different kinds of school furniture, Ergonomics, 38:5, 1025-1035 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00140139508925169
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ERGONOMICS, 1995, VOL. 38, No.5, 1025-1035
A comparative study of three different kinds of school furniture JENS AAGAARD-HANSEN Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark and ANNETIE STORR-PAULSEN Municipality of Elsinore, Denmark
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Keywords: School furniture; School children; Comfort.
Several studies indicate that the ISO standards for school furniture seem to be inappropriate, and there is increasing evidence that the inclination of the seat should be forward and that it should be possible to adjust the table-top to a certain non-horizontal angle. However, these studies have predominantly used objecti ve measurement methods on adult subjects for short-term experiments in rather artificial surroundings. By means of structured interviews registering the school children's perception of ergonomic comfort, the present study has compared three types of school furniture-the original ISO-standard type, and two different new types characterized by forward slanting seats and tiltable desk-tops, the main difference between the two being approximately 15 ern in the height of the chair as well as the table. The study showed that the highest of the two tilting types was perceived to be significantly better than the two others in terms of table height, chair height, reading position, back-rest, and global assessment. Likewise, the feature of a tiltable table-top was considered overwhelmingly positive independently of the height of the furniture. It is recommended that school authorities, producers of school furniture, and relevant medical personnel consider these results for alternative designs of school furniture. It should be kept in mind, however, that school furniture is only one among many factors in the multifactorial field of the back health of school children.
1. Introduction During the last decade there has been an increasing interest in the biomechanics of back health. Based on early work in the field by Branton (1969) and Keegan (1953) the debate has been especially active concerning the recommendation of new principles for the design of chairs and tables. The research has been characterized by the use of many different combinations of methods--objective (i.e. statometry, EMG, disc pressure measurement, etc.), as well as subjective (comfort ratings), which have been reviewed by Lueder (1983). Although not identical, the results of most of the studies tend to point in the same direction. The ISO standards that among other things define a 0-5° backward inclination of the seat and a horizontal desk-top seem to be inappropriate. Instead there is increasing new evidence that the inclination of the seat should be forward (Bendix 1984, Bendix and Biering-Serensen 1983, Bridger 1988, Bridger et al. 1989, Soderberg et al. 1986) and that it should be possible to adjust the desk-top to a certain tilting angle as well (Bendix 1987, Freudenthal etal. 1991, Wall etal. 1991 )-at least when it comes to some working tasks. The most radical new recommendations have been put forward by Mandai (1981, 1982), who has advocated not only the above-mentioned inclinations 0014-
