Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Standing Desks

Donald Rumsfeld at a standing desk while U.S. Secretary of DefenseSomeone asked me about what height a work surface used while standard should be. The obvious first place to look is "The Measure of Man and Woman: Human Factors in Design" by Alvin R . Tilley of Henry Dreyfuss Associates (Wiley, 2001 avialable in the University of Canberra Library). This gives recommended dimensions for all sort of work surfaces (originally for the US military but later updated). But I could not find a recommended height for a standing desk there, or an where else.

With some searching on-line I found the term for a desk used when standing is a "stand-up" or standing desk. Amazon.com sell "standing desks".

There is the wonderfully titled article "Become a Stand-Up Guy: The History, Benefits, and Use of Standing Desks" by Brett & Kate McKay on July 5, 2011. The company Standup Desks. offers Measuring Tips.

2 comments:

Cam said...

Tom,
I, too, was in search of ergonomic dimensions for stand-up workstations and came across this 'ready reckoner' for both sit/stand.
http://www.ergotron.com/tabid/305/language/en-US/default.aspx

Based upon 1988 Anthropometric Survey of The U S Army Personnel

Tom Worthington said...

In "Workouts are no antidote to death by desk job" Richard A. Lovett (New Scientist, 04 July 2013) reports the result of research about use of standing desks.