Ergonomic approaches to office layout and space planning

Abstract

The consideration of ergonomic principles can be invaluable when planning an office layout or other internal space. Once the obvious physical requirements and constraints are known, several techniques can be used to produce a specification for the new layout. Stakeholder analysis reveals the requirements of the users of the new space, and also serves to gain involvement and commitment from staff. Link analysis represents connections between elements in the office design, and can show the importance of these connections. This article outlines some of the issues involved in office layouts and space planning and demonstrates how ergonomics can be used to make such work a success. It explains how to use stakeholder and link analyses and describes an example of office planning in practice. To conclude, an ergonomic checklist is given which summarises some of the issues to consider when planning a new or revised layout.