New Ergonomic Regulations (Occupational Health and Safety Act) were released at the end of last year.

The regulations focus on an integrated programme approach, applied to your current SHEQ programme, whereby the following elements need to be assessed together:

• - An Ergonomic Risk Assessment.

This can aid in identifying, evaluating and prioritising possible ergonomic risks that may occur in areas of a company.

• - Ergonomic Risk Control.

Once a company knows their risks, appropriate controls can be put in place in order to eliminate or mitigate ergonomic risks. These controls also need to be maintained according to current SHE practices.

• - Training & Information

Once a company knows their risk, appropriate training and Information can be provided to staff to increase awareness and create willingness to change work practices or implement controls.

• - Medical surveillance:

As part of prevention, as well as control, medical surveillance is necessary. Once ergonomic risks are known, appropriate questionnaires and examinations can be put in place to prevent, mitigate and reverse the development of any adverse health effects relating to ergonomic risks.

The new regulations apply to:

• - Any person who is exposed or may be exposed to ergonomic risk factors

• - Suppliers, Manufacturers and Designers

What does this mean for your own company? 

• - Conducting an ergonomics risk identification assessment can act as a baseline to determine which areas and/or tasks form an ergonomic risk.

• - With a baseline ergonomics risk assessment done, the company can start to implement and integrate ergonomics guidelines systematically into the different layers of the company and consequently allow appropriate controls to be activated.

• - An ergonomic risk identification assessment will show the type of risks employees are exposed to, which enables targeted training and appropriate information to employees.

• - As part of control and prevention of the development of possible adverse health effects (work related musculoskeletal disorders), a review of your current medical programme is necessary to determine whether it currently adequately addresses possible ergonomic adverse health effects.

What does this mean if you are a supplier, manufacturer or designer?

Incorporating ergonomic principles in design can prevent a number of productivity and health issues, especially when taking into consideration the lifespan of a design or equipment. Also, employers will be more critical in terms of the incorporation of human factors into a requested design.

Some examples: Reducing the weight in bulk packaging will reduce adverse health risks to employees that need to lift these bags down the logistical chain.

Another example would be the improvement of furniture (i.e. an office chair or a chair in a TMM vehicle).

Also, the development of more intuitive controls and feedback systems can aid in reducing errors and increase safety.

Overall, good ergonomic practices can increase a company’s total performance

Click here to download the NEW ERGONOMIC REGULATIONS

According to the ‘grapevine’ the Department of Labour is set to provide some seminars/road shows in 2020 in order to provide clarity on the new regulations.

For more information on how Ergofocus can assist you with either Ergonomic training, consulting or an ergonomic risk assessment, please contact Esmeralda Kerlen (CPE) on 072 321 9227 or

The Minister has given notice of the new Draft Ergonomics Regulations and invited comment to be received in specified format by the end of April.

The regulations will focus on a comprehensive programme approach to manage primarily physical but also cognitive ergonomics in the workplace.

The new regulations apply to:

• Any person who is exposed or may be exposed to ergonomic risk factors
• Suppliers, Manufacturers and Designers

According to the DOL, a few issues within the regulations are left vague on purpose. This is done to see how stakeholders themselves would like to see how these issues are specified. The issues concerned (at a glance) are:

• Definition of the ‘competent person’
• The scope of cognitive risk factors.

The draft regulations are open for public comment (see specified form that is to be used in the regulations) until the end of April 2017

Click here to download the new draft regulations

For more information, please contact Esmeralda Kerlen @

Designed to provide a correct in-line position with 4 height adjusting levels; offers excellent space saving by folding flat.

R1712 excluding VAT

Available as:

• libro H - portable document holder

TECHNICAL SPECS

• in-line workplace: positioned between the keyboard and the screen, Libro H ensures a correct ergonomic posture and prevents neck muscular strain and eye fatigue
• wide range of vertical adjustment: 5 levels,up to 45 degress, to care for every need
• productivity buster: allows for up to 35% higher input rate
• space saver: folds totally flat (2.5mm) to be stored with great ease
  
  

Libro H - the thinest portable document holder

• 4 levels of adjustability: ranges between 25 and 40 degrees inclination
• Smart design : folds totally flat to just 2.5mm, significant improvement over competition models
• Desk space efficiency: possibility to store the keyboard under the stand
• Excellent built: made from high grade aluminium alloy
• Sturdy, stable and easy to adjust

The guarantee of a high quality product

libro, like every STANDIVARIUS product, is built with the utmost care and concern for the user and the environment. We stand behind our products and principles with a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee Policy. No question asked.

Oryx Evo is the thinnest and lightest portable laptop and notebook stand currently available

R1430 excluding VAT

Available as:

• oryx evo D - slim laptop stand with document holder

TECHNICAL SPECS

• True mobility: 220gr, approximately the size of an A4 sheet of paper when folded flat (308*206*2.5mm)
• The thinnest on the market: folding flat to a staggering 2.5mm
• Extended height adjustability: 4 adjustments, maximum inclination of 45 degrees
• Ergonomics at its high: screen being raised by a minimum of 200mm
• Space-saving structure: minimal space required on the desk (220*206mm)
• Fully functional document holder: for books and loose sheets of paper
• Excellent build: very sturdy and stable, attention to details and user experience
  
  

Turning your laptop into a truly portable PC

The Oryx evo laptop support redefines the concept of a portable PC. It is one of the lightest and thinnest laptop stands available with an incorporated document holder.

The mobile ergonomic work place

Designed to be light and mobile, Oryx stands out through its design and user experience. Being a slim and light portable laptop stand with integrated document holder on the market it truly creates a mobile ergonomic work place for its user.

Oryx evo D - a truly slim laptop stand with integrated document holder

The Oryx evo laptop stand combines the best of design, innovation and user experience. It weighs as little as 220g and folds flat to a mere 2.5 mm easily fitting into any bag. The Oryx evo D laptop stand's incorporated document holder allows you to place a document or a book in an ergonomic reading position. The 4 available height adjustments make the Oryx evo laptop stand a real ergonomic office helper.

The guarantee of a high quality product

Oryx evo, like every STANDIVARIUS product, is built with the utmost care and concern for the user and the environment. We stand behind our products and principles with a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee Policy. No question asked.

Aero is the thinnest and lightest attachable laptop and notebook stand currently available.

R1430 excluding VAT

TECHNICAL SPECS

• Innovative concept for attaching the stand to the laptop
• Light and thin: only 190gr, fits the majority of laptops
• Height adjustability: 5 degrees of inclination, up to 50 degrees
• Excellent built: high grade aircraft aluminium
  
  

Attachable laptop stand at its highest elevation

Attachable laptop stands have been around for a while, but none can achieve a high elevation and stability, remaining in the same time just 2.5mm thick. This is what makes aero evo the right solution for a truly mobile user.

Attached to the laptop for total mobility

STANDIVARIUS aero evo connects easily to the bottom of the laptop and stays securely there as long as you want to. It's there day after day, it becomes one with your laptop, so you have the same mobility you are used to. aero evo complements so naturally your laptop as if this ergonomic interface was built into.

The stand can also be easily detached in case you need access to the underside of your laptop, then, of course, reattached with equal ease.

A staggering 2.5mm thickness

You will be truly surprised by just how thin and light aero evo really is. The 2.5mm (1/10 in) thickness and 190gr (1/2.5 pounds) in weight give you all the reasons to be surprised. And because aero evo is made of aircraft grade aluminum alloy, the strength and stability are the same as of other much bigger and heavier stands.

2 seconds to open
2 seconds to close

That is how we define mobility.

Because it shouldn't stop at thin and light. If you have to struggle packing up just to move to the next office, and in half an hour to pack it up again to move back, it just isn't worth it. With aero evo, our designers and engineers created a simple yet secure mechanism that requires literally 2 seconds to open or close. 

No setup, no cables, no straps. Just freedom.

Comfort while you work

The 5 elevation adjustments are easy to interchange, thus you can easily find the correct and comfortable height. When you  switch work desk or chair, aero evo can immediately compensate for. 

Raising the top of the screen to the eyes' level insures an ergonomic posture. Within just a few hours of using the aero evo, you can feel an ease in neck and upper back strains. Tests conducted in real-life conditions showed that extensive use of aero evo stand along with a keyboard and mouse further reduces strain in the shoulders, arms and wrist.

Ultimately, ergonomics is what STANDIVARIUS aero evo stands for.

The guarantee of a high quality product

aero evo, like every STANDIVARIUS product, is built with the utmost care and concern for the user and the environment. We stand behind our products and principles with a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee Policy. 

No question asked.

As we all know, laptops have become the norm for business use versus the traditional desktop, especially as they offer the user considerably more mobility, and thus flexibility. Their cost and performance disadvantage versus desktops has also all but disappeared. When I do office ergonomic assessments, I normally see around 70% of computer users working on laptops in and out of the office, which is a considerable proportion.

The laptop is however a serious compromise when it comes to comfort, it was originally designed for short term use (less than 2 hours per day), but laptop users nowadays exceed this time limit easily, which can potentially be physically damaging to the user over time without considering some basic ergonomic principles.

Firstly, the fixed screen is too low for proper use, and if the screen is raised to the correct height, the mouse and keyboard will be too high. The low screen forces excessive neck flexion, causing possible neck strain, pain and headaches. To be able to use the keyboard and mouse, one needs to place the laptop screen closer to the user’s eyes than recommended, causing eye strain and headaches. Laptops are also fitted with compromised keyboards and mouse’s, which increases the chances of developing a WRULD (Work Related Upper Limb Disorders). A user may experience discomforts such as wrist pains, finger tingling, all the way to serious ailments such as carpal tunnel syndrome.

The solution to this ergonomic problem is threefold:

1. A laptop stand will increase the height of the laptop screen, so that the user can look directly at the screen, instead of looking down at the screen. Also, the laptop screen will be able to be placed at the correct distance from the users eyes.
2. A separate mouse and keyboard will be required to allow for a laptop stand to be used comfortably. Also, the keyboard and mouse will now be full sized, able to be correctly placed on the desk, and be ergonomically sound.
3. The keyboard and mouse must be positioned within the users work zone, and the screen must be placed at the correct distance and height from the user’s eyes.

A simple diagram shows the difference:

This easy and relatively cheap solution will greatly increase productivity and decrease the typical laptop user’s discomfort, which I am sure we are all aware of, and most probably suffer from at the end of a day; headaches, dizziness, sore eyes, back pain, neck pain and tingling arms. In some cases, this will result in sick leave being taken, without the cause/effect being known.

The advantage of an increase in productivity of a (relatively expensive) laptop user, or the costs of absenteeism in the same employee, means the ROI of a correctly set up employee is normally on average less than a month.  A no-brainer I would say!

 In my work I often conduct ergonomic risk assessments on welders, who regularly indicate that they suffer from neck and shoulder pains. Managers and co-workers react surprised, as the job does not seem to be very stressful to the untrained eye. If one is to expect problems, it should surely be a result from the static posture of the wrist and/or from the negative results from static standing? But if one looks at the welder’s head posture combined with the helmet, one can start to understand the problem.

The weight of a welder’s helmet, especially the older models, is considerable. The welding itself nearly always happens at some awkward angle, which means the welder’s head, with helmet, is nearly always at a forward tilted angle. The neck and shoulder muscles then need to counteract the weight of the head and the weight of the helmet, which causes increased strain on these muscles. As a welder needs to concentrate on the weld, he doesn’t alternate this posture often, which results in reduced blood flow and a build up of waste products in the muscles. As a result, early fatigue is a given, which subsequently may bring a reduction in the quality of the weld. And that brings us to the main problem, duration. In South Africa, a welder can sometimes assume these welding postures for up to 8-12 hours a day, depending on the nature of the shift. In the long term, these long duration (static) postures may even cause permanent damage to the spinal column.

Welders have not traditionally had the attention they deserve with regards to the musculoskeletal risks associated with their work, and I believe their physical complaints are not treated with the urgency they deserve. The problem is also one of economics; South Africa, with it skills shortage in the trades, can ill afford lower productivity or absenteeism from this group of workers in our economy.

But what can we do to minimise this risk? There is not a single solution, but rather a collection of small changes in equipment, work layout and behaviour which should improve the situation:

• -          Use the lightest possible welding helmet.
• -          Do not “nod” the helmet down over the face, or rather use an auto dimming helmet.
• -          Optimise the workstation, to ensure that the work piece is at an optimal position; this can be achieved by using positioners, for example. If the work piece is large and placed on the floor, try and place it on a, in height adjustable, turn table and use stools and knee protection. This will assist in reducing the necessity to assume a forward flexed posture of the head, and decrease reach to the work piece.
• -          Take regular breaks, and perform stretching exercises during these breaks.

As welders perform different duties in different companies and are often part of the maintenance team, it is important not to overlook the maintenance team when conducting an ergonomics assessment and identify these possible risks. If the welder is able to conduct their tasks in a more “comfortable” position, and get the job done quicker, shut down times of machinery can also be reduced. 

Attachable laptop stand Price R1013.00 aero is the thinnest and lightest attachable laptop and notebook stand currently available

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