Dear Claire,
As has already been pointed out ASD http://www.asd.co.uk/, is probably the best source of specialist seating. What my colleague Terry Dowling did not mention was that ASD could carry out modifications to a seat to meet a clients special need. Naturally this may take a lot longer to build but I believe they are the only company to offer such a service.
I assume from the enquiry that your client has some form of physical need for special seating, if that is this case then standard types of lab seating may not be suitable. If that is the case then you would need to talk to ASD to identify precise needs for support etc and they could build to those specifications. Care should be taken when dealing with any form of seating especially for such activities where the user may have to employ special equipment ie. microscopes etc which demand a posture which will agravate many muscular - skeletal conditions.
I cannot emphasies enough the importance of getting the ergonomics right as failure could result in skeletal deformaties, and muscular stress and apart from this is it is very difficult for soemone who is not supported properly to work efficiently.
I am afraid many of the suppliers do not recognise the importance of correct fitting and this is demonstrated by the limited amount of information they supply about the dimensions of the products they sell. Any seat that is used for extended periods whether clerical or production based must be of the correct proportions in at least 7 or 8 key areas to support the individual properly - not knowing these will probably result in an ill fitting chair - where an individual has a muscular skeletal disability the number of key areas can rise to 20 or more essential key areas - how much worse then when a chair doesn't fit or support someone with that need?.
I should add that Ergonomics is an area of specialisation I have develeoped over many years dealing with DSA and Access to Work Assessments.
I am happy to offer support off list if you require.
Regards
Terry Hart
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff. on behalf of Claire Shanks
Sent: Thu 20/05/2004 09:37
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc:
Subject: Lab Chairs and Workstations
Hi,
I know this request has been asked many times before, but I am having
problems accessing the archives. Can anyone tell me where we can
purchase specialist laboratory chairs and workstations? Any advice
would be greatly appreciated.
With best wishes
Claire
Disability Support Manager
Disability Support Service
University of Huddersfield
Queensgate
Huddersfield
HD1 3DH
Tel: 01484 473940
Fax: 01484 472560
---
This transmission is confidential and may be legally privileged. If you receive it in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail and remove it from your system. If the content of this e-mail does not relate to the business of the University of Huddersfield, then we do not endorse it and will accept no liability.
|