Abstract
Design choices made for built environments, such as wall outlet height, should address human factors and ergonomic considerations to provide a comfortable and convenient environment for everyone, regardless of their capabilities. Previous research, focuing on ambulatory individuals (only one participant was a wheel chair user), indicated that the majority of participants benefited from raising the wall outlet height. Similarly, this paper addresses the intersection of ergonomics and the built environment by exploring one aspect of the built environment (wall outlet height) on the user extending the sample user population from ambulatory individuals (n=34) in the previous investigation to include wheelchair users (n=25). This study aims to provide guidance on how to improve the interpretation of existing building codes for the built environment regarding wall outlet height. The results showed that for ambulatory individuals, wall outlet heights located between 91 cm - 101 cm are recommended. For wheelchair users, lower heights (71 cm) may be better design choices. For all participants, a mid-height location (81 cm) is recommended.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.