Bid to get workers on their feet

Thursday 12 June 2014

You might feel that you are on the go all day from nine 'til five, but are you really active enough at work?

Today you can find out what it’s like to use brawn as well as brains to improve your health and your efficiency in the office.

You can try the "Standing at Work" experience in Liberty Wharf between 8.30 am and 5 pm where can find out more about the benefits of using a stand-up desk.

Local chiropractor and ergonomic consultant Grant Henderson who will be giving a talk at 12.45 pm today.

Mr Henderson said: “The benefits of standing up at work are well documented now, there are a lot of studies and if staff have the chance of using a stand up desk it improves their health – there’s a reduction in heart conditions and in diabetes.

“Staff are more active, more energised, it reduces backache and neck ache and it reduces the long-term health costs to the country."

Mr Henderson said there’s been a growing interest in the health benefits of the desks but that Jersey is still behind the UK in introducing them and the UK is still a way behind Scandinavia where it is the legal right of employees to have a variable height desk which they can stand up or sit down at.

Mr Henderson said: "Currently I would estimate that stand up desks account for less than one in 500 desks here. I expect to see that rise to one in ten or even one in five in the next five to ten years."

The event is part of Jersey Enterprise Week which ends with a big awards ceremony at Fort Regent on Friday evening.