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Edward Washington
Member - 2 posts
Hi everyone, we are currently looking at rearranging our office desk layout (open plan) to try and fit more desks in. I’m trying to work out what space to leave between rows of desks where operators will be back-to-back with other operators, or with a wall. The ‘lines’ of desks will contain 8-12 people, with a wall/window at one end, and the main centre walkway of the office at the other.
I’ve searched all over and found that the health & safety regulations say 11 cubic meters, and the fire regulations say 60cm apart for 10 or less people. However there seems to be little qualification as to exactly what these measurements refer to.
Is the 11 cubic meters around the operator’s desk only, or does it include other space in the building that they can occupy, either adjacent walkways and/or communal areas such as canteens.
If 60cm is left between rows of desks where operators will be back-to-back, this means the backs of chairs will be touching when people are sat at the desks, and someone at the end of a row has to get everyone between them to breath in very hard, or get up to allow them to pass. This to my mind is clearly not enough space. So does this 60cm apply instead to the gap left between the backs of chairs when (reasonable sized) people are sat at them, or can we really cram them in like battery chickens?
If there are more than 10 people in an aisle then does this change to needing a full 1m walkway down the middle between the backs of in use chairs?
Thanks in advance.
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Nigel DuPree
Member - 143 posts
EU Regs introduced in 90's regarding reflective surfaces, materials and spacings sufficient to accommodate any size people then sort of ignored because would have required every office/business in UK to redesign and refit offices so accepted that would only apply to new build.
Nevertheless, desk chair requires space for 1 metre travel, in - out, and when 'out' there should be 60cm between back of another chair when also 'out' or walk-way to mitigate potential obstruction hazard!
With regard when does access to any workstation become a 'walkway' is common sense in that "if" a number of people needed to leave in an emergency and there were only 60cm or even a metre between chairs when in use "then" there would not be a metre when chairs pushed back for people to leave in a controlled and orderly fashion let alone in a big hurry.
Makes you wonder how airlines get away with it other than by restricting isle space they may manage slower exit to limit pressure or bottleneck at escape hatches ?
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Kevin Brown
Member - 88 posts
The 11 cubic metres assumes a notional ceiling height of 2.44 meters, so the associated floor area is around 4.5 square meters (about 48 square feet). This is an EU minimum requirement. Looking at it as a footprint, it could be expressed as a rectangle measuring 6 ft x 8 ft (1.83 x 2.44m) in which you have to fit the workstation, the user and the 'walkway'. You also have to factor in the need to allow space to get access to windows, to powerpoints, for IT maintenance etc.
A good rule of thumb is to allow each user 1 meter of space from the front edge of the desk to allow them to access the workstation without impeding other employees. You refer to 'operators', is this going to be a call centre environment? If so, greater separation should help control intrusive noise from neighbouring operators, thus increasing efficiency.
Finally, the 60 centimeter minimum quoted by the Fire Service represents what they require as a bare minimum to facilitate escape. In an escape you'd expect everyone to be moving in the same direction towards one exit or another, with the risk of obstruction or collision being well managed. It doesn't really suit the day to day scenario where workers have discretion to take comfort breaks etc. and by doing so, may affect their colleagues if they have to squeeze past them.
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Edward Washington
Member - 2 posts
Thanks both for your replies.
This is a call centre environment, however it’s B2B and not B2C, so the calling levels are lower, generally less stressful and therefore quieter. The operators/agents are at 4ft wide desks that are around 3’6” deep ‘wave’ desks. The wide edges touch and there are proper sound boards between desks, and the agents face towards each other at these points (with desks on the opposite side forming a ‘pod’ of 4 desks looking to the middle) These are space 12-18inchs apart from the next ‘pod’ down so the agents have more space (you can walk through these gaps and people do, however they are not strictly there for that purpose from an HSE and Fire point of view). The false ceiling has special ‘sound absorbent’ tiles (though I’m not certain on their exact effectiveness) and is almost 3m high to reduce reflected sound.
All these factors help to limit noise, along with proper telephones and headsets that aren’t cheap, and I/we/the Company do take staff happiness seriously. We have a very high staff retention, with a large number of them sticking around for 5+ years.
My original question was perhaps a little misleading, in so far as I was mainly seeking what the minimum legal requirements are so we know how close the desks can legally go. We, unlike most call centres, don’t do anything by the bare minimum we can get away with, as other non-legal aspects are taken into account. However as we grow we need to use the space better and fit more desks in – and in some ‘aisles’ the desks are 3-4m apart.
One of our current aisles is 1.5m from desk-desk, and physically sitting in and moving between them myself for a period there seems enough space to sit at desks, get in and out, move between, and move out in an emergency. So I think this is the width we’ll stick to as a minimum. There will however be some aisles that shall remain 2.5-3m wide to enable access for disabled persons.
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Stacey Collins
Member - 10 posts
I had some success when I managed to agree with staff, space planners and managers (or whoever organises your office layout) an agreed performance standard: i.e. we will provide "x" amount of space, maintain "y" office temp etc. (which was pretty much the workplace regs ACOP and CIBSE standards, with one or two specifics relating to our offices, furniture and equipment) Proved very effective for me in managing the middle ground between staff asking too much and managers wanting to cram more people in.
But looking for a minimum allowable distance (or any other quantitive standard ) goes against the spirit of the thing, even if it does meet some guidelines. The watchword is always "reasonable". When you watch people work and they are patently cramped up, that's not right. If you think you could reasonably move them closer together with no loss of productivity, no fair complaints, and no increased risk to their health and safety, then you probably can.
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