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Millions of workers have been uprooted by COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) and been thrown into a “new normal” of working from home offices. To further complicate things, many individuals were provided with only a laptop and little, if any, education on setting up an ergonomically correct workstation. As a result, many home office–based workers potentially face suboptimal working conditions. Based on 41 home office ergonomic evaluations, most ergonomic concerns related to laptop usage, nonadjustable chairs without armrests, low monitor heights, and hard desk surfaces. If home-based office work continues, people need to understand the ramifications of poor workstation.

BACKGROUND: As millions of workers have shifted to telework, special accommodations for workers with respect to ergonomics may be required to ensure the workforce remains healthy. METHODS: A survey about home office ergonomics and discomfort was sent to faculty, staff, and administrators by email and was completed by 843 individuals. RESULTS: Over 40%of the participants reported moderate to severe discomfort (severe low/middle back pain, moderate discomfort in eyes/neck/head, and discomfort in the upper back/shoulders). Laptops (always and often) were widely used (85%) with most using the laptop monitor (55%) of all respondents. Further, less than 45%of the seating conditions were reported as having adjustable arm rests. CONCLUSION: As teleworking in makeshift offices becomes more common, the risk of significant discomfort and potentially more serious musculoskeletal disorders may result from poor static postures. Companies may need to accommodate workers by allowing them to take home office chairs, external monitors, keyboards, and mice as laptops are insufficient, ergonomically.

A program has been established for DOE Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (EM) to evaluate factors that are likely to affect waste glass reaction ,during repository disposal, with emphasis on an unsaturated environment typical of what may be expected for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository site. This report covers progress in FY 1991 on the following tasks: 11 A critic_ review of those parameters that affect the reactivity of glass in an unsaturated environment is in progress. This effort involves a search of the literature to identify the important parameters. Temperature and glass compositions are the first parameters examined in detail. 2, An interface between waste producers and the repository program is being implemented. 3. A series of tests has been started to evaluate the reactivity of fully radioactive glasses in a high-level waste repository environment mad compare it to the reactivity of synthetic glasses of similar composition. 4. The effect of radiation upon the durability of waste glasses at a high glass surface. _ea-tc)-liquid volume fSA/V) _ttio m3d higl_ gas-to-liquid volume ratio will be assessed. These tesLsaddress both vapor m_d high SA/V liquid conditions. 5. A series of test:_ is being performed to compare the extent of reaction (_t" nuclear waste glasses at various SA/V ratios, Such differences in the SA/V ratio may significantly affect glass durability. 6. An_ytical electron microscopy (AEM), infrared spectroscopy, and nuclear : resonant profiling are being used to assess the glass/water reaction pathway by identil'ying intermediate phases that appear on the reacting glass. Additionally, colloids trom the leach solutions are being studied using AEM.

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DISCLAIMER 5.6. 7.8. 9.10. 11.12. 13.14. . LIST OF FIGURES (contd.)Title LIST OF TABLES 1. 2.3. 4.5. 6. 7.8. 9. 10 ABSTRACTWaste package assemblies consisting of actinide-doped West Valley ATM-10 reference glass and sensitized 304L stainless steel have been reacted with simulated repository groundwater using the Unsaturated Test Method. Analyses of surface corrosion and reaction products resulting from tests that were terminated at scheduled intervals between 13 and 52 weeks are reported. Analyses reveal complex interactions between the groundwater, the sensitized stainless steel waste form holder, and the glass. Alteration phases form that consist mainly of smectite clay, brockite, and an amorphous thorium iron titanium silicate, the latter two incorporating thorium, uranium, arid possibly transuranics. The results from the terminated tests, combined with data from tests that are still ongoing, will help determine the suitability of glass waste forms in the proposed high-level repository at the Yucca Mountain Site. 1 2

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The results of a series of hydration experiments on natural glasses (Hawaiian basalt, obsidian) and the nuclear waste glass WV-44 done to examine laboratory methods of accelerating reaction processes are summarized. The glasses were reacted in hydrothermal solution and in saturated vapor water. It was found that different reaction rates and processes were found using the differing conditions, and that laboratory efforts to accelerate and duplicate natural processes must account for the physical processes that occur naturally.