Pregnant women and working surface height and working surface areas for standing manual work

Physically loading aspects of work may have adverse effects on the health of both the pregnant woman and the unborn child. Improving the fit between the pregnant woman and the workplace layout contributes to minimizing the load associated with given tasks. The aim of this paper is to evaluate two layout aspects for standing manual work, namely working surface height and working surface areas, for the condition of pregnancy. Two approaches were used. (1) The effects of changed body dimensions were evaluated with regard to (a) fit problems while working at a workplace in accordance with common guidelines and (b) the validity of assumptions of these guidelines. (2) The appreciation of relevant aspects of workplace layout at a specific manual task was assessed. Twenty-seven women were examined in pregnant and non-pregnant conditions. The first approach showed that fit problems are likely: guideline working surface height is just (2–7 cm) under the most protruding abdominal point, and areas based on non-pregnant abdominal depth are relatively large in pregnant condition. Further, existing methods to assess working surface areas have various assumptions that are not valid in pregnant condition. The second approach showed that at a specific manual task, women in late pregnancy preferred a considerably lower table height than the common guideline heights. Possibly, abdominal height becomes a relevant design factor with regard to working surface height during pregnancy. The task position on the working surface at which effort started became closer to the table edge due to pregnancy. Both approaches show that common guideline working surface heights for manual work, and working surface areas assessed in non-pregnant condition seem not suitable in pregnant condition.