Should You Really Take A Chance Assembling Your New Office Furniture?
Furnishing and equipping an office can be a pricey business and you’ve probably thought about cutting costs by doing the assembly and install on your own. Before you pull out the wrench or Google “general labor’s or local movers in my area” take a look at…
Five reasons why you don’t want to assemble office furniture:
1. There needs to be a strategy.
Assembling and installing office furniture isn’t as simple as it sounds and takes more than a few hours and the tools you have handy. You need a plan that considers things you’ve probably not thought about. For example:
Do you have drawings for exactly how each station is to be laid out?
Do you have staff that is skilled in reading those drawings from an installation point of view?
How long will furniture take to construct and arrange?
What sequence of installation will ensure a streamlined workflow?
How many employees will it take to complete installation in a timely fashion? How many man hours will it take to assemble (10) 6′ x 8′ workstations/cubicles with power?
Will you need an electrician?
Will you need someone to sort out telephone lines and internet?
What if you’re missing parts or end up with extra?
2. It will cost you time and money.
If you choose to ask your employees to take a couple of hours away from their jobs to assemble chairs, tables, desks, dividers and everything else that makes an office function properly, their everyday tasks will be neglected.
Deadlines could be missed or set back and, ultimately, you’ll end up paying twice – for the hours lost while employees fix everything up and for the extra hours for them to catch up on normal duties.
3. It won’t be perfect.
Putting furniture together correctly and efficiently isn’t that easy. Anyone who has wrestled with an IKEA bookcase or a BestBuy computer desk can tell you that.
It doesn’t take much to end up with a unit that just doesn’t fit together. Placing a cantilever or panel a fraction of an inch off will affect the integrity of all workstations attached. Before you know it, your carefully drawn up office plan is destroyed, and every surface is slightly askew.
Office desks won’t match up flush at the edges, drawers won’t line up and trays won’t be level. But worst of all, it will cause frustration with you and your staff.
4. Safety issues
OSHA is charged with ensuring that safety and health regulations are enforced in the US. together with local fire code, there is a boatload of things you can and cannot do to ensure your furniture meets all the required laws. Just a very few are:
Do you know how much space the fire and OSHA laws require for walkways and working space per person?
Do you know how weight-bearing load is affected if you don’t use those “extra” bolts on your new desks?
Those overhead storage cabinets are great space savers. Did you know that if they are not installed exactly to manufacturer’s specifications they can fall, causing injury and property damage? Each manufacturer designs them a little differently.
If your employees are injured while performing duties outside of their job description – such as heavy manual labor installing furniture – will they be covered by your insurance? What will that cost you in fees and lost productivity?
Office furniture installation crews are experts at making sure your furniture is assembled to code and placed according to the space planner’s specifications. That expertise keeps you in the clear with the law and free of fines.
As an employer, you can create a basic safety checklist to ensure the safety of workers in office cubicles and other such confined spaces. Below is a list of examples’ off OSHA’s website that I hope will help get you started.
- Make sure that the OSHA Job Safety and Health Protection Poster is ideally exhibited where all employees may view it.
- Post a copy of the OSHA Form 300A, which contains information related to work-related illnesses and injuries.
- Ensure easy accessibility to the relevant emergency phone numbers in times of crisis.
- Employees must be provided the correct information if there is the risk of exposure to toxic substances or physical agents.
- Post understandable signs regarding the location of emergency exits, exposure to toxic/biohazardous materials and other harmful chemicals.
5. You might need help after the installation.
In many cases, it becomes necessary to bring in the professionals to fix issues and repair damage due to incorrect assembly and install. We encourage you to do it right the first time and hire professional office furniture installers like FineWal Office Solutions. We’ll be more than happy help you with your office furniture needs.
After all, “MAKING GREAT WORK POSSIBLE” is just what we do here at FineWal Office Solutions.
If you need service in Phoenix, AZ or the surrounding areas stop by our showroom “3130 W. Thomas Rd., Suite 301 Phoenix, AZ 85017 ” or give us a call “602-385-3282” we are here to help.
Also, we do not limit ourselves to MAKING GREAT WORK POSSIBLE in the state of Arizona, we will go to any of the 50 states in the USA.
Give our office a call today to talk more about your office needs. 602-385-3282
FineWal Office Solutions
Making Great Work Possible
