Catering to the Obese

Obesity is the major health issue of our time. The expanding waistline of the average
Briton places a variety of new challenges for the office. Both in making it accessible
for a newer, larger generation and also making the space itself assist people who wish
to lose weight.

With the population of the UK growing steadily larger, rates of obesity have gone
from seven per cent in 1980 to 22 per cent in 2000: the projected figure for this year is
30 per cent.

The principle issue with obesity in the workplace is one of health and safety. Most
good quality office chairs are only guaranteed up to 18 stone, when subjected to a
heavier persons regular use the chair can catastrophically fail, potentially causing
quite severe injury or at the very least embarrassment.

Rob Greenfield, deputy chair of the BIFM and chair of the health and safety special
interest group says: “The evacuation concerns are very prevalent in large buildings,
getting down 20 floors is tricky for a fully fit individual, let alone someone suffering
from obesity.”

There is also the issue of the person fitting into the allocated space, the gap between
chair and desk needs to be reappraised to fit the larger person. This is the same for
height and girth and as such a public issue over weight may easily be avoided if
handled sensitively.

Greenfield says: “There is a tendency for some employers to use ‘max pax’ furniture
to squeeze as many employees into an office as possible. The footprint of this
furniture is much smaller than a standard office chair and will cause problems for the
obese.”

Dealing with this change in the shape and size of the average worker means
reappraising a good deal of traditional thinking. The anthropometic studies that most
current office designs are based on were carried out shortly after World War Two.
Adjustments to the older model must be made to account for both the more sedentary
nature of the average modern lifestyle, together with that of the increase in average
height that a richer economy has produced.

Phil Hutchinson, joint managing director, BDG Work Futures says: “There are two
ways of tackling this issue, one is a scientific approach looking at ergonomics and
dealing with things on an individual level. Personally I prefer what I’d call the iPod
method using such things as the Human Scale Freedom chair. The idea behind this is
to allow anyone to be able to be properly seated, as in general people tend not to
correctly use the more complex adjustable devices in today’s flexible working
environments.”

The more dynamic nature of the office today can actually be used as an advantage for
the obese. By allowing people to sit where they feel comfortable, hot-desking can
allow for a non-intrusive method of ensuring that the office can better cater for all
shapes of employees.

Hutchinson says: “You can use the flexible nature of the modern workspace as an
advantage, by allowing a person to work where they feel comfortable, for example
allowing the use of a sofa in a break out area, most shapes and sizes of people can be
catered for.”

This approach also helps mitigate one of the most stressing problems with obesity:
that of the stigma attached to being overweight. Unlike most accessibility issues,
obesity is looked upon with a level of scorn by a large section of the population.
Sufferers from obesity are also inclined to feel ashamed of their condition, whether or
not it is due to a medical impairment.

Such approaches will often need to be altered to deal with the severely obese. When
looking at arrangements for the very large, health and safety issues are paramount,
both in ensuring that the seating is of the correct nature and strength, and also to
ensure that evacuation procedures are workable for the individual.

In dealing with specific arrangements for the severely obese, a great deal of sensitivity
should be employed. Pam Edwards, managing director at Shape posture seating says:
“One of the hardest things to ask is, ‘what is your weight?’, it’s far easier to ask
someone what their height is first”.

Another technique Edwards recommends is to allow the individual to take a browse

through the catalogue themselves, starting with the chairs designed for the very
largest people. “Simply saying ‘oh that’s too big for you’ often puts them at ease,
knowing that there are chairs made for people who are larger than they are”, she says.

It is important to consider that weight can cause a raft of problems for the employee,
over and above those health issues normally associated with obesity , such as an
increased risk of heart disease and musclo-skeletal disorders. There is also the
perception that they are in some way, lazy, ill disciplined and less intelligent than
their ideally weighted co-workers. A 2005 survey conducted for Personnel Today
found some 93 per cent of HR professionals admitting to choosing a normally
weighted candidate over a similarly skilled overweight candidate.

Hutchinson says: “The Disability Discrimination Act should be common sense, this is
part of an employer’s responsibility to their employees, making the office both
suitable for the obese employee and the environment helpful to their losing weight if
they wish too.”

Part of the problem with obesity is that it is perceived as a self-inflicted condition.

This means there is very little natural sympathy from most people for those suffering
from the condition. As around 85 per cent of obese children will become obese adults,
this perception of it is simply untrue. As many obese people have had a lifetime of
teasing at the hands of their peers, the issue needs to be dealt with a great deal of
sensitivity and understanding.

Helping obese people deal with their condition should not be a matter of compulsion,
but there is a great deal that companies can do to assist those who do wish to lose
weight achieve their goal. Dr. Colin Waine chairman of the National Obesity Forum
says: “I think it is in the interest of companies to do something. If they provide meals
they should ensure that a healthy option, low in fat and salt should be available, where
possible exercise facilities should also be provided, or gym membership to help
promote a healthy lifestyle that will help increase productivity.”
One thing that was discovered writing this article was that the level of stigma attached
to obesity is truly staggering, when researching accessibility pieces, case studies and
examples seem to fall on to your lap from a plethora of worthy companies seeking to
explain how they have achieved a level of equality for their disabled staff.

When dealing with obesity, there is a sullen silence, there are plenty of cases, but
people willing to come forwards to explain how their difficulties were overcome are
extremely rare. This is the silence of shame. Something that in the modern world we
should do our best to banish. FM can be a good place to start the debunking of the
myths surrounding this issue and a real chance to deal with this understated issue of
discrimination.

Box:

Causes of obesity:

Obesity has a variety of causes. The major one being the massive drop in physical
activity of the average person coupled with a diet that is energy dense and high in
saturated fats. With the levels of obesity in children also sky rocketing, the quantity of
obese adults is also set to rise dramatically as their generation matures.

There are medical reasons for some suffers, such as Prader Willi syndrome. This
causes the hypothalamus to malfunction, causing an insatiable urge to eat. While rare
– around 1 in 12,000 individuals suffer from it – it is one of the more common
conditions seen in genetics clinics.

There are also those who put on weight to a short term medical condition, someone
who has been disabled for a time due to accident is prone to put on weight during
their period of enforced inactivity. Some medical drugs, such as steroids, certain anti-
psychotics and anti depressants, also cause weight gain in the user.