Most ergonomic injuries in offices don't come from one bad day. They come from a chair set two centimetres too low, a monitor angled just enough to strain the neck, or a desk height nobody adjusted after the last person left. Small mismatches, repeated eight hours a day, five days a week.
This guide covers what actually matters when you're setting up a workstation for WHS compliance and for people who'll be sitting there long after the audit is over.
Start with the chair, not the desk
Desk height gets fixed once. Chairs get fought with daily. If you're setting a budget priority, put it here first.
A workstation chair needs four adjustments that actually get used:
- Seat height, so feet sit flat on the floor or a footrest, with knees roughly level with hips
- Seat depth, leaving two to three finger-widths between the seat edge and the back of the knee
- Lumbar support that sits in the small of the back, not somewhere near the shoulder blades
- Armrest height that lets shoulders relax, not shrug
We see a lot of offices buy chairs with all four adjustments on paper, then never train staff to use them. A $600 chair set wrong does less for someone's back than a $300 chair set right. If you're rolling out new seating across a floor, budget half a day for a walkthrough — five minutes per person, chair by chair.
Desk height and monitor position
Standard desk height in Australia sits around 720mm, which suits a seated adult of roughly 170–180cm. Anyone shorter or taller than that range needs either a height-adjustable desk or a footrest and monitor riser to compensate.
For monitor position:
- Top of the screen at or just below eye level
- Screen distance roughly an arm's length away
- Laptop users need a separate keyboard and mouse if the laptop is the primary screen — hunching over a built-in keyboard while looking down at a laptop screen is one of the most common posture complaints we hear about
If your team runs a mix of heights — common in most Melbourne and Geelong offices with 10+ staff — a sit-stand desk removes the single-height problem entirely. It's also the fastest way to satisfy WHS reviewers asking about adjustable workstations, since it covers the adjustment requirement without configuring each desk individually.
Keyboard, mouse and reach
Keep the keyboard and mouse close enough that elbows stay near the body, roughly 90–110 degrees at the elbow. Reaching forward for a mouse that's too far away is a slow, low-grade strain that people rarely connect to their workstation until a physio asks about it.
Wrist rests help some people and do nothing for others — treat them as optional, not a fix for a badly positioned keyboard.
What WHS reviewers actually check
Under Victorian WHS guidance, employers have a duty to provide workstations that don't create unnecessary risk of musculoskeletal injury. In practice, a reviewer or WHS consultant checking your office will look for:
- Adjustable-height desks or documented individual setup for fixed-height desks
- Chairs with working lumbar, seat depth and height adjustment
- Monitor arms or risers where laptop-only setups exist
- A basic self-assessment or induction process for new starters
None of this requires replacing every desk in the building. It requires a documented, consistent setup process and equipment that's actually adjustable — not equipment that looks adjustable in a spec sheet.
Setting up for a mixed team
Open-plan offices rarely have one "right" setup. A 25-year-old graduate and someone recovering from a shoulder injury need different configurations at the same desk if it's shared or hot-desked. Two things make this manageable:
- Height-adjustable desks with saved presets, so switching users takes seconds, not a full readjustment
- A short onboarding checklist — five settings, five minutes — that new starters or new desk users run through instead of guessing
Fitouts that skip this step tend to end up with staff bringing in their own cushions, footrests and laptop stands within the first month. Building ergonomic flexibility into the furniture spec from the start avoids that patchwork.
Getting it right without overspending
You don't need premium everything. Prioritise:
- A properly adjustable chair for every desk-based role
- Sit-stand capability for shared desks or mixed-height teams
- Monitor risers or arms wherever a laptop is the main screen
- A five-minute setup checklist, used consistently
That sequence covers most WHS risk and most day-to-day discomfort complaints, without needing a full furniture refresh.
If you're planning a new fitout or refreshing existing workstations, The Agile Office's new office furniture range covers adjustable chairs, sit-stand desks and monitor arms sized for Melbourne and Geelong offices. We can also run a short on-site walkthrough to check current setups against WHS guidance before you buy anything new.
FAQ
What's the standard desk height in Australia? Around 720mm for a fixed desk, suited to a seated adult roughly 170–180cm tall. Outside that range, use a height-adjustable desk or add a footrest and monitor riser.
Do I legally need sit-stand desks for WHS compliance? No single piece of equipment is mandated. Victorian WHS guidance requires employers to manage musculoskeletal injury risk, which sit-stand desks help address for mixed-height or hot-desked teams, but a well-set-up fixed desk with proper chair adjustment can also meet the duty.
How often should workstation setups be reviewed? At minimum when someone starts in a new role or desk, and after any reported discomfort. Many Melbourne offices build a quick check into onboarding and annual WHS reviews.
What's the single highest-impact change for an existing office? Getting chairs adjusted properly for each person. It costs nothing beyond staff time and fixes more day-to-day discomfort than most equipment purchases.
Can I set up an ergonomic workstation with existing furniture? Often, yes. Chair adjustment, monitor height and keyboard/mouse position cost nothing to correct. New equipment becomes worthwhile once you've confirmed the existing gear is genuinely limiting — a fixed-height desk for a team with a wide height range, for example.
