Issue Archive: August 2006

9-1-1 Furniture Systems: It's What's Inside That Counts

Although 9-1-1 dispatch consoles and workstation designs are trending towards a sleeker and more minimally stylish aesthetic, it’s what’s behind the scenes in 9-1-1 furniture systems that really make the difference. Revolutionary design and engineering technology has significantly impacted the 24/7 mission-critical environment with a new breed of dispatch console systems, which offer a multitude of features that improve user interface, provide greater cable and equipment management and access, expand user control of ergonomic adjustment and give users and architects the freedom to aesthetically tailor the consoles’ aesthetics to suit the surrounding environment without suffering the costs of customization. The result is modern, modular console furniture systems that reduce environmental stress on the operator, protect sensitive equipment and cabling and appropriately blend into today’s modern dispatch facilities.

Creating a Perfect Environment

What’s so different about today’s innovative dispatch consoles? Truly modular product lines enable users to perfectly fit their consoles into their environment by not restricting them to pre-fabricated panels or other components that have huge cost increases when customized. Innovative materials and design features enable cabling and equipment to be integrated into each individual console without having to share spines or other fixed cable routing channels used in the past, making each console a freestanding unit capable of rapid deployment or reconfiguration.

Workstations

Freestanding Consoles

Freestanding consoles incorporate their own privacy details such as acoustic fabric, glass or acrylic panels at the back of the work-surface that are not shared with adjacent consoles; instead, they rise and fall with each individual console.

Equipment Housings

Modular equipment housings, particularly for CPUs beneath the consoles, enable custom positioning of equipment to account for possible limitations placed on them as a result of cable lengths. Modular housings also provide the ability to be removed altogether without impacting the work-surface of the consoles, an important consideration with the remote CPU generation fast approaching.

Open Architecture

Ultra lightweight and highly flexible frame components such as aluminum extrusion allow for rapid installation and reconfiguration. An “open architecture” frame has replaced the conventional shared panel system of the past for maximum access to cabling and equipment while providing a more sophisticated, modern aesthetic. While some companies continue to provide closed and cumbersome box frames or panel systems to house cabling and technology, the trend is toward providing open access to cable routes integrated into each console through innovative access panels on the raceways. With the push of a button to adjust the pre-programmable height of the console, IT managers can access cabling within a system that has become virtually tool-free, with raceways secured by a single cable management chain to protect the desktop cabling during height adjustment of the worktop. When necessary, cable raceways give IT managers the ability to separate the electric and data cabling to ensure the security of information. The design is modular but open, where most panel-based systems were formerly closed. Among other things, this open architecture design reduces the console footprint by eliminating the panels between consoles and enabling easy space planning by communications centers, architects and vendors, who know that a future reconfiguration can be done without the purchase and lead-time of additional panel elements. Because of the flexibility of today’s top of the line console products, it’s easier than ever to configure and reconfigure console clusters.

Monitors and Keyboards

Today’s consoles have also perfected an effective integration of technology and user ergonomics, as emergency 9-1-1 communication centers clearly hold unique challenges for designers of this specialized dispatch furniture. Large monitors and numerous keyboards as well as other equipment require a specialized approach to create the most comfortable, productive and least stressful emergency communications center environment.

Ergonomic Standards

As a matter of background, the criteria for ergonomic standards are set by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which is published by an organization called The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. The members of this organization are made up of working human factors engineering professionals in academia and the industry, and the standards they set stem from the original American National Standard for Human Factors Engineering of Visual Display Terminal Workstations, which was published in 1988. In 2002, the first revision to this original standard was published to keep pace with changing technology and the evolution of a new breed of standing working postures. As a result of the findings and the design and engineering progress that has ensued, workstations can now be tailored to meet the sit and stand height needs from the fifth percentile of seated females to the 95th percentile of standing males, in compliance with the ergonomic standard for furniture being considered for this special environment as established by ANSI. Agencies should be aware that not all workstations conform to these important standards, so it is prudent to ascertain that the equipment purchased conforms to ensure that an agency is getting its money’s worth from the workstations.

For practical purposes, the furniture provides individual ergonomic benefits and accommodates multiple users of the same equipment amidst a constant flow of traffic at heavily used workstations that are staffed 24/7. Securing the proper furniture to meet these standards will also ensure that important staff members are being provided with the least physically stressful work environment possible. In addition, adherence to ANSI guidelines brings with it the highest level of credibility in a court of law should any workers compensation or employment issues related to this area of ergonomics occur.

Other specific findings within these guidelines include information such as the fact that the console surface should be rigid and strong; tilt is essentially irrelevant if the height adjustment can provide the desired neutral wrist alignment. In addition, the support surface that holds the monitors should be properly designed to adapt to a range of monitor shapes and sizes. This is particularly important as a great number of the operators are females and the height needs to accommodate both male and female users who require bifocal or trifocal corrective lenses.

State-of-the-art software provides users with the ability to log on to pre-programmed sit and stand settings that they can adjust at will to create comfortable positions as they interface with desktop equipment, including monitors at the workstations. All this serves to help reduce operator tension in an extremely stressful environment so that workers can focus on their job, perform that job in a more comfortable environment and, ultimately, save lives.

Customizable Solutions

Completely customized solutions are highly valued when it comes to specialized requirements. Customized storage towers, task tables, islands, pedestals and filing, task lighting and other features can be completely developed to meet a particular work environment need. To meet demanding environmental needs, technical furniture should require minimal setup and knock down requirements and should be fully customizable to blend into any aesthetic environment through a combination of customized fit, configuration and finishes.

Diane Knetzger is the marketing and public relations manager for Innovant (New York, NY), designing and manufacturing customized dispatch consoles for the 9-1-1 market. She has been handling the communications for Innovant’s RISE adjustable height consoles and other products since 2002. For more information about the RISE product and Innovant, contact Bruce Wells, vice president, at (212) 929-4883 or Diane at (203) 966-1305.