Posted By Allan Kerrigan Minimum requirements...that is a sign of maybe why you have requests for upgraded chairs. Do your chairs adjust on 2 planes or 3 ?? Sometimes you cannot win, but in my own experiance a good quaility chair is worth more that just the cost, it proves the old rule of H&S, investment can and does pay off. The MOD last year spent £1000 for each chair, for all thier staff, to try to eliminate back pain and WULD's. this is more like what a chair should be like. in an ideal world. I would like to see if the MOD has reduced back pain etc since using these chairs.

Posted By Jim Walker So pleased to see the MOD have their priorities right. Thousand quid per chair - wonder how many poorly armoured landrovers that eqates to.

Posted By Bunny If you only provide other types of chairs for those with medical conditons then I would suggest that you are not complying with the law. I am tall and long legged and require seats that can adapt to that. It's not a medical requirement it's just the way I am built. I don't ask just to get a better chair, I ask for an appropriate chair for my build. Just because you find your chair comfortable don't assume everyone does and since when do people require a DSE assessedment to be able to state that their chair gives then aches and pains?

Posted By LTN I didn’t expect this to get heated. When I say minimum requirements, I’m talking about our standard office chairs, adjustable in height and tilt 3 ways as described in VDU reg guidance (so something that is adjustable in 11 different ways would be above minimum but doesn’t necessarily make it better for an individual). But we do have other chairs which meet the specific needs of the individuals. In the past these were mostly raised due primarily to medical conditions or concerns, but build is also taken into consideration, I just forgot to mention it – weight more than height has been raised though. Am I alone in thinking that an assessment is necessary if someone mentions that they want a better chair? Because as someone else said there are other issues to be covered in a work station assessment besides the chair. The very best chair will be of very limited use if the individual doesn’t take any breaks or it's the desk that needs to be adjustable. My small rant is just the issue of want rather than need - where people say they ‘want’ a new chair (like they want a wrist rest and screen reflector though there is no need), rather than saying that their current chair doesn’t meet their needs or comfort or that they’d like an assessment.

Posted By Eric Taylor I work for the MoD, and can quite categorically state that out of nearly 400 employees in the establishment, not one has has £1000 spent on a chair for DSE use or otherwise. Looking at the catalogue they come from £150 would seem to be about the most expensive. Perhaps the postee should spend less time on the website for the "Ministry of Spurious Statistics" (and attention grabbing quotes?)

Posted By Steve Lawrie Well I work in an open plan office - while we have 'standard' chairs they only fit standard people. One of the guys is 6'7' tall with a large frame - the girl next to him is 4'7' tall and probably 6 stone wet! We look at the needs of individuals and have a wide variety of chairs that range from £300 to £600. Having spent 20 years with the MOD in the past I would say that the procurement department needs to look at their suppliers