Journal of Health and Safety at Work

Introduction: Children have been known to spend most of their time at school. They learn their sitting habits in this period of time. Incorrect sitting postures and inappropriate school furniture can result in abnormalities in the vertebral column, back pain, neck pain, Fatigue and discomfort. Hence, this study was aimed to examine the match between students’ body dimensions and existing benches and desks dimensions in Hamadan female primary schools.

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Material and Method: In this study, 624 students of Hamadan female primary schools were investigated and some of their anthropometric dimensions including shoulder height, elbow height, knee height, popliteal height, popliteal-buttock length and hip breadth were measured. In this sense, a chair (with adjustable height, depth and elbow support) and a caliper with movable jaw were used for measurement of anthropometric dimensions. The measurements were performed in a way that thighs were in full contact with the seat, there was a right angle between the thighs and legs, the feet were in full contact with the movable pedal, the trunk was straight and the back and hips were in full contact with the backrest. Following, the match of the dimensions of existing benches and desks with the appropriate dimensions (based on the students’ anthropometric dimensions) were examined.

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Result: The results showed that the seat height, seat depth, seat width, back rest height, desk height, underneath desk height were in acceptable rangefor 10.1%, 17.3%, 5.6%, 53.5%, 1.9% and 31.1% of students, respectively.

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Conclusion: Despite differences in the body dimensions of primary school students, there is no regularity in using of school furniture. Overall, the dimensions of existing benches and desks are not matched with the anthropometric dimensions of students.