An Innovative Ergonomic Design of Classroom Desktop-chair

The design of classroom desktop-chairs (one size fits all) in many institutions is usually done with no consideration of anthropometrics. This may cause musculoskeletal disorders and affect learning effectiveness due to sitting for a long time in an awkward position. The objective of this research was to use the concept of innovative ergonomics to design and analyse a classroom desktop-chair for students in Uasin-Gishu County. The specific objectives were: to collect anthropometric data for students from four selected tertiary institutions; to design a desktop-chair using the collected anthropometric measurements, and to analyse the desktop-chair design using RULA ergonomic analytical tool. The sample size of 382 was determined according to Homkhiew et al. (2012). Anthropometric data were collected from a total of 382 students of both genders from four selected institutions within Uasin-Gishu County. The results show that the proposed desktop-chair design gave a better result as the final score was reduced from 4 to 1, which meant the chances of musculoskeletal disorders could be reduced. In conclusion, one type of ergonomically suitable classroom desktop-chair design was proposed.