Keep healthy and safe while computing!

As I may (or may not have) said I am a consultant for Health and Safety (H&S) at Work. Therefore I would like to add something to this site about H&S when using our beloved computers.

Most of you may have heard about the risks of injurying (even permanently) from computer usage. The most obvious risks are those of deteriorating eye-sight (especially when using small screens on mobile devices), back injuries (from siting many hours in a wrong position), hand injuries etc.

So what can we do to minimise these risks? Well I will let two of the planet's biggest companies explain the risks and the appropriate safe working practices:

Microsoft, with their one-(web)paged "Microsoft Healthy Computing Guide" (for quick and simple info)
Hewlett-Packard, with their web-based or PDF downloadable document "Safety & Comfort Guide", which in its 58 (!) pages covers just about anything about H&S when using computers (but unfortunately not mobile ones... although it has a chapter about portable computers). What is even more impressive about this guide, is the fact that you can download it in 31 languages!

So as I always tell my clients, do have a look at these guides and try to implement as many as possible of their advices.

Till next time.... Safe Computing!

Chris Dimi
in Days of a Mobile Technology Enthusiast
Posted at 13:04:39 UTC

Mobile risks?

by Jaap van Ekris, Saturday 10 of June, 2006 [22:03:45 UTC]

Are there any things to do (or not do) when using mobile devices, besides the very obvious ones like driving a car etc.? I mean, there are people that use a device daily, and this might put people on risk. There are cases known of people getting RSI on their thumbs from the small keyboard, although this is the seriousness is still under discussion. Also, there are cases known of eye strain because of the small screen. Do you have any help on that? At what level of usage it becomes irresponsible?

by Chris Dimi, Sunday 11 of June, 2006 [05:56:39 UTC]

Dear Jaap, the obvious risks when using mobile devices are the ones you mentioned. Since widespread mobile computing is a fairly new phenomenon (around 5 years) there are not many (if any) studies concerning the related risks. People are only now starting to realise them (as you pointed out there are CASES of getting RSI or eye strain). Bare in mind that even for mobile phones (which have been around for much longer) the only studies made are conserned with the dangers of electromagnetic radiation from the devices (and the antennas). Even these studies are not conclusive. Unfortunatelly we may have to find out the old way, by usage results down the time line of human history. In any case, we can advice anyone using a mobile device to do so in a responsible way (not while driving for example) and further more, to make sure he/she is not getting addictive to its use. Usually in such cases, risks come for OVERUSING a device!

by Jaap van Ekris, Monday 12 of June, 2006 [19:37:20 UTC]

So, Like many things, using it too much lies the danger. So use it with care and consideration until some people find out more by research. That's a valuable lesson as well, especially if i see the BlackBerry adicts sitting besides me in the train, just clicking away message after message with their thumbs.

Modern Nomads

Make Mobile Devices Work For You

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Mobile risks?