By now, most of you have heard about the health risks of sitting for extended periods of time. A height adjustable workstation or desk will give you the most flexibility, because it allows you to move easily between sitting and standing. So, the next logical question you might ask is 'how do you know what height to adjust your desk to?' A standing desk won’t do a whole lot of good, if you’re hunched over the keyboard to type or craning your neck to read your email. When setting up a height adjustable workstation, there are two positions you want to consider; seated and standing. Both are specific to each individual who uses the workstation.

Have you ever heard noise in your headset while you are trying to talk on the phone or talk on the radio?

If you answered yes to these questions, you have a grounding issue in your dispatch center.

There are a number of acceptable methods to correctly bond and ground a building, electrical cabling and equipment. The most common misconception about grounding is that, what you currently have for grounding, is good enough. But, there is no such thing as too much grounding. 

As we know, a 911 dispatch center can have many distractions for dispatchers. Noise often carries and reflects throughout a room and is audible in even the furthest reaching corner of the room. It can start with a casual disruption like “hey, what are we getting for lunch?”, to a full blown “calm down sir, help is on the way!” Often times, dispatchers raise their voice so that they can be heard with clarity by the caller and sometimes side conversations tend carry when they are even whispered.

The job of a 911 dispatcher challenges a person’s mental and emotional abilities. It is also a job that requires a person to remain sitting in a chair during most of their shift. This type of job provides only limited opportunities to stand up and move around. Because of this limitation, proper ergonomics for 911 dispatchers is essential.  Improper ergonomics can lead to both short and long term physical issues.