Researchers Need Great Seating, Too!
In the 1980s, office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller introduced two breakthrough chairs, Ergon and Equa, both of which emphasized ergonomics and sparked a shift in thinking about how a worker’s body interacts with their chair. Since that time, companies have dramatically altered the way the ergonomic needs and comfort of their workforce in the office.
A family-owned company for over a hundred years, Ball Horticultural has grown to become a world-leader in the research, breeding, and production of ornamental crops. Their campus expansion represented an opportunity to not just expand research capacity, but to establish a new paradigm that reflects their evolving work cultural and become an integral component in recruiting world-class talent. Pictured: Ball Horticulture in West Chicago, IL. Architect of record: Christner Architects of St. Louis, MO
In the past four decades, the office seating market has evolved significantly, with most major office furniture manufacturers designing and developing a countless array of well-designed, ergonomic chairs for their clients to consider. A vast majority of companies embrace the notion that providing great seating for their office and management staff pays dividends. As the importance of office design has elevated, the average business might allocate new seating budgets from $400 to $1,500 per chair to accommodate the needs of their employees. Leadership stakeholders feel that by making investments in the office environment, they can be more successful attracting and retaining talent, as well as address the health and safety of their staff. The ROI seems evident.
However, oddly enough, this same phenomenon and priority mindset has not taken hold within other interior work spaces like the laboratory or production floors. While the physical demands placed on researchers and technicians can be significantly riskier and more complex than that of their office counterparts, the focus and emphasis of ensuring scientists and engineers get seated in the best possible product for a research center seems to be a major afterthought to those involved in the process—even in today’s most sophisticated labs.
A few recent examples of this difference can help exemplify a disconnect that is prevalent in the design process for science seating. Company (A), a leading architectural and design firm who are leaders in the field of science and technology design, specified that the lab interiors for a large new lab build project using cutting-edge lab furnishings. Yet when it came to the laboratory chairs, four common office chair models were the preferred options. Those models lacked the unique functions, materials, or styling that should be evident in modern lab seating used in high-risk environments.
Company (B) is a recognized global leader in bio-pharma research with thousands of highly paid scientists on their payroll. As of 2021, no corporate standard was established for laboratory seating—despite making monumental investments in their lab furnishings, lab managers were often left completely on their own to select and procure chairs for their labs. Not only was the design ignored, but so was the appropriate budgeting for high quality lab seating that one would expect for these highly competent teams. The end result was many lab managers made the decision to purchase chairs at local office superstores, and so the lab interiors became an eclectic mixture of seating with inferior specifications and lacking the quality to hold up in their labs.
Lastly, Company (C) standardized their labs on a suggested mesh-back stool to provide a great look and comfort level for the staff in a wet lab application where bio-chemical agents and pathogens were routinely used. Unfortunately, they failed to take into account that porous mesh materials are highly susceptible to trapping and fostering bacteria growth and are very difficult to clean.
The true contrast of work performed and the duties required between office and science workers could not be more different. Science workers are often required to do a high degree of forward-leaning over microscopes or trays of test samples. There is a need for frequent posture transitions, on and off the seat. They very often sit on stools to work at elevated worksurfaces—here, the need for height range adjustability is very important, and long periods of standing and leg fatigue can be common. Chemicals, cleaning agents, and hazardous materials are commonly prevalent and add more risk factors to their space. The testing equipment needed within reach for experiments is often heavy and sophisticated. Working under fume hoods and strong ventilation systems is often required. Technicians often are required to wear protective apparel and head shields in cleanroom environments. Lastly, many technical workers need seating designed with electrostatic discharge controls to help offset the risks associated with electrical shock and the damage that it can cause to circuitry and components.
The reasons for focusing on the physical differences in a research chair versus the common office chair are numerous. These concerns need to be addressed differently by the lab planning firms, facility managers, health and safety managers, and lab managers who design and run lab and high-tech environments. No one is exempt from inferior seating solutions, even the scientists and technical research personnel at the highest pay grades, or those who are the most critical to driving revenue. Unfortunately, despite all of the great improvements being made in today’s design, environmental, and facility management standards, lab seating is still sorely underutilized and underappreciated, and many are not aware of how insufficient seating options can impact the health and performance of the researchers who sit in them.
This dynamic can only improve over time with greater knowledge and awareness. One resource is the Laboratory Grade Seating guidelines published by SEFA (Scientific Equipment & Furniture Association) in 2022. With the present explosion of spending and growth within the sciences industries, now is an important time to begin to properly address and support the individual needs of each scientist, engineer, and assembly technician so that they can perform at their absolute best on the job. Although lab furniture is a construction-driven specification and lab seating is part of the FF&E (Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment) package, the lab workstation should be regarded as a total holistic solution where all integral elements are properly defined and can contribute to our improved “labs of the future.”
Mark Scelfo is US Managing Director of BIMOS Lab Seating.