General office ergonomics have been studied extensively since the 1970’s, yet one of the most common, troubling and pervasive office tasks has been overlooked, until now.
It’s almost as if the standard sliding glass panel reception window was developed and installed in millions of offices around the globe without regard to the operator’s ergonomic challenges.
The majority of these windows were installed to protect a patient’s privacy and became a critical element with the passage of HIPAA Privacy Rules.
There is also a growing need to increase office security, as more laws are passed to reduce the availability of pain medications, making any office the potential target of aggression and
assaults to illegally obtain these drugs. The first person to receive such aggression will most likely be the office receptionist.
The basic components of many sliding windows include:
• An active and passive panel of glass is made of pane, tempered, laminated or bulletproof glass. The glass is cut in endless dimensions but is always cut about 1/4” thick and 1 1/4”
shorter than the height of the opening to allow for installation and removal of the glass.
• A base track made of aluminum with a rounded or square tops. It is either a standard double track or a double channel (recessed or surface mounted) with rail inserts (rounded or square top). See photo.
• A aluminum channel “shoe” to hold the glass and the plastic or metal rollers. See photo.
• A gasket or other material to securely hold the glass in the shoe.
• A upper channel to guide the glass while traveling back and forth and to prevent it from falling inwards or outwards onto patients or staff.
• Plastic glass guides mounted on the top of the glass to reduce play/rattling in the upper channel.
• Side channels allow the glass edge to move into a recess that increase soundproofing and
decrease any finger holds used by patients to open glass.
• A thin piece of plastic, adhered to the inner surface of the glass, to assist the receptionist in opening or closing the window. The piece pictured below is 3/4”w x
2.75”H and is 1/8” thick, with a slight depression intended to act as a finger hold.
ROUNDED DOUBLE, SQUARE RAIL INSERT, SQUARE DOUBLE
STANDARD ONE INCH “SHOE”
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UPPER GUIDE AND SIDE CHANNEL COMMON PLASTIC UPPER GUIDE RUBBER GASKET USED IN SHOE COMMON PLASTIC WHEEL
The basic problems with any sliding window include:
• The entirety of these
components are all installed at the end of the operator’s reach, making it one of the biggest ergonomic strains in an office. It is well established, in countless ergonomic articles, that working at past their reach, especially one requiring significant effort is not safe for the employee.
• A receptionist in a single physician office, will open or close their reception window about 80 or more times each
• day.The average weight of a 2’x4’
piece of laminated glass is 25 pounds.
• Some sliding windows are made of unsafe pane glass.
COMMON PLASTIC FINGER HOLD
RECEPTION WINDOWS ARE LOCATED IN THE “NON-WORKING AREA”
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• The components degrade quickly due to mismatches (square topped base track and round roller) that cause the base track to deform which decreases overall height and greatly increases the probability of the glass traveling below the top guide (safety channel) and falling onto patients or staff. I have several examples of glass falling inwards or outwards and it may kill a child or severely injure a visitor.
• The use of metal rollers, while initially reducing rolling resistance, will become loud and quickly deform the base track and result in the issues noted in the previous
statement. The deformation is the result of the weight of the glass and a harder roller material. Black aluminum oxide formation also stains clothes, hands and attracts more grit.
• The components are designed to be used in a push or pull fashion but no window is designed to actually
accommodate the initial Pushing Force needed to move the window. Pushing on the window gives the operator leverage to overcome the basic “Starting or Initial” force to move the panel to the open or closed position. The
starting force is up 2.5 x the effort needed to maintain movement or also called the “sustained force”.
• As a window’s components wear “Starting” and
"Sustained Forces” increase exponentially and result in the operator pushing harder to get leverage and can tilt
the glass in the shoe that reduces the overall height of the glass and increases wear on the rollers and base track. The average force starting force (measured via Wheeler Engineering Trigger Guage) is just over 2 pounds and the highest recorded value exceeded the limit of 12 pounds.
• The calculation of Rolling Force is F = f x W/R, where F=the force required to overcome the rolling friction, f=the coefficient of rolling friction, W=load
on the wheel and R=radius of the wheel.
• Patients or visitors are in the position to open the window and often do because it is easy for them and this agitates the staff.
All of the issues listed above can lead the primary customer facing employee, your receptionist, to become the target of aggression, be at risk for personal injury, repetitive motion disorders, fatigue and unpleasant attitudes resulting in lower Star Ratings. Many receptionists fail to use the window at all, or when necessary.
COMMON BASE TRACK DEFORMATION, NOTICE ONLY ON ACTIVE PANEL
