Furniture

Employers and designers are realizing the costs of bad workstation design. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration estimates the cost to businesses of repetitive strain injuries to be $20 billion to $100 billion a year. In 1998, almost 12,000 claims for carpal tunnel syndrome alone cost the federal government $110 million.

New designs include healthy features that are entirely new or were not previously standard, like desks that hold computer monitors below their surfaces and keyboard and mouse trays that adjust easily and independently.

Flexibility

The new workplaces feature modular furniture that is adaptable to different work styles and needs. The furniture components can be reconfigured from individual to team to conference setups in a matter of moments. Multiple data ports let users move equipment quickly and easily.

Universality

As people with physical disabilities are integrated more into the mainstream workforce and the workforce ages, furniture designers are incorporating features that can be adjusted at the touch of a finger.

Universal design benefits everyone-even the young and able-bodied-because it takes into account the way bodies work and can match the physical demands of an activity with each person's physical characteristics. Examples of adaptations that benefit people both with and without disabilities are desktops that change height with the touch of a button and rotating bookshelves that bring the materials closer to the user.