Herman Miller receives FIRA Ergonomics Excellence Award

Corporate member and Manufacturing Guild Mark holder, Herman Miller, has received a FIRA Ergonomics Excellence Award for their new range of Cosm office chairs. There are four chairs within the Cosm range included in the award:

• Cosm low back with fixed arms
• Medium back with adjustable arms
• High back with leaf arms
• Workstool version with fixed arms

The FIRA Ergonomics Excellence Award recognises organisations who design and manufacture products to the highest ergonomic standards.

The ergonomic assessment procedures conducted by FIRA International involved users representing the 26th to 99th percentile stature of the UK population, with test users being selected based on their body type/build to ensure good cross section. Following this process there were various features of the Cosm chair range which stood-out to the FIRA International ergonomics team. These included the height adjustment options of the chairs, ease of use, the free-floating backrests and the suspension seat.

The chairs were also subjected to pressure mapping tests by FIRA International, the results of which showed an even distribution of users’ weight, which minimises the chances of discomfort on pressure points.

Speaking on the Ergonomics Excellence Award, Chloe Richardson, Director Product Management EMEA at Herman Miller said “When developing our new Cosm range of office chairs we worked with designers Studio 7.5 to achieve a sophisticated ergonomic design which instantly responds to the users’ body, movement and posture to provide natural balance and total support. The chair provides instant comfort and balanced support, responding automatically to the users’ body, posture and movement.”

“We also designed the chairs to be breathable and temperature-neutral, and the continuous elastomeric suspension system eliminates the gap between the seat and back to provide dynamic spinal support.”

“With all this in mind it was important for us to have third party assessment of the range, which is why we turned to the experts at FIRA International. To then go that one step further and receive an Ergonomics Excellence Award has been great for us.”

As part of the assessment for the Ergonomics Excellence Award FIRA International also confirmed the range of Cosm chairs also passed relevant sections of BS EN ISO 9241-5:1999 Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals (VDTs). Workstation layout and postural requirements.

Further information on the FIRA Ergonomics Award is available from www.fira.co.uk/commercial-services/technical-services/ergonomics, which includes a list of all ergonomic award holders.