How do you actually use a sit-stand desk?
Alternate. A sit-stand desk reduces manual task risk only when it is used to change posture through the day, and most guidance suggests moving between sitting and standing every 30 to 60 minutes. Standing all day is not better than sitting all day; it is a different sustained posture with its own problems. Set both heights so your elbows are at roughly 90 degrees and the screen stays at eye level, save them as presets so changing takes one press, and treat the desk as one part of moving more, not as a substitute for it. A sit-stand desk that lives at sitting height is a fixed desk that cost more.
Last reviewed September 2026 · Applies to the Manual Handling Training for Office and General Workplace Staff course.
Why the desk exists in the first place
Sustained posture is one of the risk factors that makes a manual task hazardous under the Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice. The office version is sitting in one position for hours, with the neck, shoulders and lower back holding a static load. Nobody notices a static load in the moment, which is why discomfort from it builds slowly and gets reported late, if at all.
In the hierarchy of controls, a sit-stand desk is an engineering control: it changes the equipment so that changing posture is easy. That puts it above training and reminders, which is why organisations buy them. But an engineering control that is never operated has no effect, and the most common failure with sit-stand desks is that they are installed, left at one height and forgotten within a month.
Setting the two heights
Sitting height first. Adjust the chair so your feet are flat and your thighs roughly level, then bring the desk to the height at which your forearms rest level and your shoulders are relaxed with the keyboard in front of you. The top of the screen should be at about eye level and roughly an arm's length away. If the desk cannot go low enough for you at sitting height, a keyboard tray or a footrest may be needed; do not hunch the shoulders to reach.
Standing height next. Raise the desk until your elbows are again at about 90 degrees with the forearms level. The screen still needs to be at eye level, and this is where set-ups usually fail: the monitor rises with the desk but the relationship between keyboard and screen changes, so a monitor arm or riser that can be adjusted independently is worth having. Laptops cannot put the keyboard and the screen in the right place at once at either height; dock them, or use a stand with a separate keyboard and mouse.
Save both heights as presets if the desk allows it. Changing position should be a single button press. If it involves holding a switch and guessing, people stop doing it. In hot-desking offices, where the desk was set for someone else, spending the first two minutes adjusting both heights is part of the day, and employers who hot-desk should provide the same adjustable equipment and a simple guide at every desk.
- Elbows at about 90 degrees, forearms level, shoulders relaxed, at both heights
- Top of screen at eye level at both heights; adjust the monitor independently of the desk
- Keyboard and mouse together, directly in front, at the same height
- Presets saved, so changing position is one press
Alternating through the day
Change position before you feel you need to. A reasonable pattern is 30 to 60 minutes in one position, then the other, and there is no need to be precise about it. Stand for the tasks that suit standing: calls, reading, video meetings, sorting paper. Sit for fine mouse work or long typing if standing makes those harder. Calendar reminders or software prompts help, because most people lose track of time at a screen.
Standing well matters as much as standing at all. Wear supportive shoes or use an anti-fatigue mat, shift your weight from foot to foot, and do not lock your knees. If standing produces foot, knee or lower back discomfort, shorten the standing periods rather than pushing through; the aim is variety, not endurance.
The desk does not replace movement. A proper break away from the screen every hour or two, a walk to the printer or the kitchen, and standing for short meetings all do more for a static-load problem than any piece of furniture. The desk makes changing posture easy; you still have to leave it sometimes.
What the desk cannot fix, and what the course covers
A sit-stand desk does not correct a chair with a broken gas lift, a monitor set to one side, a mouse reached for at arm's length or a laptop used flat on the desk all day. Those are separate problems with separate fixes, and Module 6, Workstations, Storage and the Occasional Heavy Lift, works through each element of the workstation in turn before turning to sit-stand desks and movement breaks. Module 7, Equipment, Aids and Tools for Offices and General Workplaces, covers monitor arms, docks and the checks to make before relying on adjustable furniture.
The course gives you the principles to set up any desk sensibly and to recognise when a set-up is wrong. It does not replace a workstation assessment, where someone looks at you at your desk with your equipment, and your employer's own checklist or assessor takes precedence. Providing sit-stand desks, monitor arms and guidance on using them is the employer's control; using them, and reporting discomfort early rather than adapting to it, is yours.
Common questions
Sources
- Safe Work Australia — Model Code of Practice: Hazardous manual tasks — The national code the state and territory regulators adopt or mirror.
- Safe Work Australia — Lifting, pushing and pulling (manual tasks)
General information about Australian work health and safety duties, not legal advice. Your employer’s procedures and the regulator in your state take precedence.
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