Formaldehyde - A Bad Chemical Being Phased Out

Beginning in January 2009, the California Air Resources Board will begin phasing out formaldehyde from being used in the manufacture of fiberboard, plywood and other products prominently used in the making of office furniture.

According to the press release 08-90: "All businesses that manufacture, sell, use or supply composite-wood products to California will be subject to aspects of the regulations. These businesses include panel manufacturers, importers, distributors, retailers, and fabricators of finished goods. Only composite-wood products that meet the standards may be used in the fabrication of finished goods, such as furniture, cabinets, etc. once the sell-through provisions expire. The regulation allows for current stocks of non-compliant composite-wood inventories to be sold for a period of time in California."

"The regulations are expected to increase the cost of four foot by eight foot panels by one to two dollars but they will dramatically reduce the public's exposure to this carcinogen. Phase-one will cut formaldehyde emissions by 180 tons-per-year and phase-two another 500 tons-per-year." Phase 2 will be phased in by 2012.

This may have a big impact on furniture imported from Asia, as these regulations will be the most strictly in existence.

Photo of medium density fiberboard from Wikipedia. I also told about how fiberboard is used in the construction of wood and laminate furniture in my previous post Laminate or Wood Furniture - What is the Difference?

SRK

I Don't Want My Back To The Door

"I hate having my back to the door." This is a constant refrain I here from cubicle dwellers. Gunslingers like Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name never liked doing it in the old west. And according to Dragon Feng Shui, "Facing a wall can make it seem as though you will never get ahead, as your progress is blocked." They recommend a mirror. But we can show you how to face the door without using mirrors.

With a few extra planning steps. It is a snap to configure your cubicles so that you can work on the computer and not have your back to the opening.

Just place the corner on the wing panel as shown in the first photo of Steelcase Answer cubicles. As an added benefit, this configuration results in more workspace for the person using the cube than the standard back-to-the-opening configuration. You will need to figure out how to bring power out to the corner. This can add to the expense. Of course, a cheap solution would be a long plug strip.

If the cube is at least 8x8, you can use a 36" corner and a 24" return surface to get workspace to the right of the corner. This still leaves a three-foot opening.

Another idea is to use a curved straight surface that is slightly wider on the end nearest the opening. This work especially well in smaller cubes like 6x8. In these days of flat screen monitors, you really don't need the depth of a corner worksurface to accommodate the monitor. See the second photo of Teknion Leverage cubicles.

If you can't reconfigure your cube, Dragon Feng Shui has more tips.

SRK