Abschnitt 3.10 - 3.10 Mobile office work for field workers
Most office work is (still) performed at desks. The proportion of workers who must complete part of their office work whilst on the move is however increasing. Performing office work on the move is however not the best solution. Work requiring concentration can generally be performed more efficiently and more ergonomically at a well-equipped office workstation.
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 | Hazards |
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Your employees are exposed to the following hazards, for example as a result of unergonomic seating postures or poor screen and keyboard design:
Constrained or poor ergonomic posture
Stress upon the locomotor apparatus and the eyes
Unlimited working hours, poor information flow, absence of a support network
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Ensure that your field workers observe the provisions of the German working hours act and the applicable labour agreements.
Ensure that your employees also work under ergonomic conditions whilst at customers' premises.
Ensure that field workers are included in the information flow within your company and are able to attend meetings and company events.
| The work posture frequently observed with a laptop or tablet PC on the user's lap is not recommended for longer periods of work. This posture gives rise to shoulder and neck tension, and can cause headaches and other disorders. The underside of some laptops also becomes very hot - another reason why they should not be used in this way. |
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| A teleworking workstation as described in the German Ordinance on Workplaces is a permanent workstation set up by you at an employee's home. You are responsible for equipping this workstation (furniture, work equipment, communications equipment). Observe Chapter 3, Office and VDU work, when setting up a teleworking workstation. |
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When assessing the working conditions, also take account of the mobile office work performed by your employees.
| Small devices such as netbooks, sub-notebooks, ultra-mobile PCs or tablet PCs are very limited in their suitability for office work owing to their small and often reflective displays and small or virtual keyboards. |
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Laptops
When procuring laptop PCs, ensure that they bear the GS mark and also have:
A display with good anti-reflective properties
A very bright display that can also be read outdoors
A stable, rigid casing
A keyboard with light-coloured keys and dark lettering, since this can still be read under poor lighting conditions
Adequate battery capacity
Should field work require several people to view the screen simultaneously, for example for presentations, laptops with a wide viewing angle should be used.
If laptops are also to be used in the office, ensure that they feature ports for an external keyboard, mouse and screen, or for a docking station.
Mouse
If your employees often work with a touchpad or track-point, procure additional mice. A suitable work surface, such as a table, is however required for their use. Ensure that only mice of ergonomic geometry adapted to the size of the hand are used, and not laptop mice.
Printers
Procure mobile printers if documents must be printed out outside the office. The form of connection to the laptop (by cable, or wireless connection by means of WLAN and Bluetooth systems) is also important. Lightweight devices (less than 2 kg in weight) with high print quality are recommended.
Tablet PCs
Should you wish to use tablet PCs in field work, pay attention to the following properties at procurement:
A bright, high-contrast and matt display
A display largely independent of the viewing angle
The right operating system: only for the installation of apps (e.g. Android, IOS), or also suitable for universal software (e.g. Windows 10, Linux)
A screen size suitable for the work tasks (at least 10 inch)
Battery capacity sufficient for a working shift
Should your field workers have to make comprehensive inputs on these devices, a virtual
keyboard with small keys is not suitable, and should be supplemented by an external
keyboard and a mouse. A laptop is then often the better option. Laptop PCs with removable,
folding or self-flattening keyboards that can be used in the same way as a tablet
PC are also possible alternatives.
A laptop or tablet PC without peripherals is not suitable for use at a fixed office workstation. In order to attain compliance with the German Ordinance on Workplaces and to permit ergonomic working, an external keyboard and mouse and a separate screen must be connected. This is particularly relevant for your field workers, who perform more extensive office tasks at home or at customers' premises.
Smartphones
Smartphones are suitable devices for managing appointments, addresses and possibly brief notes. They can also be used to call up stored information. Ensure that when extensive editing work is performed, the data are transferred to a laptop or desktop PC.