A Bodyguard for Healthy Working Conditions: The Electronic Pipette

Neck and back problems, pain in the hand and fatigue. That's the other side of lab life. Excessive effort, high operating forces and repeated physical strain can cause health problems in the long run. This is not only inconvenient for people in the lab, but also for their employers. Syndromes like the repetitive strain injury syndrome (RSI) increase the number of absences from work.
Today, healthy working conditions become more and more important. Responsible organizations already discover the value of personal health for their company culture, being a prerequisite for long term competitive advantage.

Ergonomics means to never feel the effects of hard work!

Ergonomic working conditions start with the pipette itself: the shape, the weight, operating forces, the concept of operation. Even small differences between the pipettes used on a daily basis can make the difference between development or absence of health problems:

• Operational forces play a crucial role during the pipetting action. For example, repetitive and effortful pressing of the control and eject button under permanent change of thumb position puts stress on your muscles of hand and fingers.
• The volume adjustment of a mechanical pipette with gloves requires manual dexterity. The repeated thumb movements require relatively strong muscle activity.
• A pipette with an unfavorable center of gravity can be poorly balanced in the hand. This requires a stronger grip, which in turn places unnecessary strain on the hand and fingers.

For your everyday health and well-being your bodyguard should create physical and cognitive ergonomics:

Optimal balance

• Low weight
• A pipette should nestle to your hand: It should be automatically balanced at the right angle without having to grip it firmly

Low operation forces

• Only a light touch of the keys is required
• Comfortable, secure and reproducible tip fitting with just a gentle touch
• A perfect balance and hand rest guaranteeing a low-impact position and efficient means for relaxation periods

Button positioning for natural hand movements

• Ergonomic button arrangement with small distances for an effortless operation
• Accessible keys without gripping around and changing fingers

Intuitive display

• Easy to read, large color display to reduce eyes strain with optimized contrast for all lighting conditions encountered in the laboratory
• Rotatable display for easy readability independent from hand or work position, for both left- and right-handed people

Mental relaxation

• Self-explanatory operation and as well as software navigation with only a few submenus
• Automatic saving of the last sets of parameters eliminating the need for repeated adjustment of volume, speed etc. (history function)

Health-protecting working conditions are feasible, fortunately. Because not only your sample, also you deserve the best treatment!