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Part 3: Input devices

Australian Standard

Screen-based workstations
AS 3590.3—1990
 This Australian Standard was prepared by Committee SF/38, Screen-based Work-
stations. It was approved on behalf of the Council of Standards Australia on
27 November 1989 and published on 2 April 1990.

The following interests are represented on Committee SF/38:

Australian Bank Employees’ Union

Australian Bankers Association
Australian Information Industry Association
Australian Journalists’ Association
Australian Optometrical Association
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Australian Taxation Office

Confederation of Australian Industry
Department of Administrative Services
Department of Health, Tas.
Department of Labour, Vic.
Ergonomics Society of Australia and New Zealand
Health Department, W.A.
Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works
Micrographics Association of Australia
Municipal Officers’ Association Victoria
Office Equipment Industry Association of Australia
Royal Australian College of Ophthalmologists
Safety Institute of Australia
South Australian Health Commission
State Electricity Commission of Victoria
Telecom Australia
WorkCover Authority of N.S.W.
Work Australia

Review of Australian Standards. To keep abreast of progress in industry, Australian Standards are subject
to periodic review and are kept up to date by the issue of amendments or new editi ons as necessary. It is
important therefore that Standards users ensure that they are in possession of the latest editi on, and any
amendments thereto.
Full detail s of all Australi an Standards and related publications wil l be found in the Standards Australia
Catalogue of Publications; this information is supplemented each month by the magazine ‘The Australi an
Standard’, which subscribing members receive, and which gives detail s of new publications, new edit ions
and amendments, and of withdrawn Standards.
Suggesti ons for improvements to Australian Standards, addressed to the head off ice of Standards Australi a,
are welcomed. Noti fi cati on of any inaccuracy or ambiguity found in an Australi an Standard should be made
without delay in order that the matter may be investigated and appropriate action taken.

This Standard was issued in draft form for comment as DR 87269.

 AS 3590.3—1990

Australian Standard
This is a free 6 page sample. Access the full version at http://infostore.saiglobal.com.

Screen-based workstations
Part 3: Input devices

First publi shed as AS 3590.3—1990.

PUBLISHED BY STANDARDS AUSTRALIA

(STANDARDS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA)
1 THE CRESCENT, HOMEBUSH, NSW 2140
ISBN 0 7262 6052 5
 AS 3590.3—1990 2

PREFACE

This Standard was prepared by the Standards Australia Committee on Screen-based

Workstations at the direction of the Safety Standards Board.
The Standard is one of a series of three Standards dealing with screen-based
workstations, the others being as follows:
Part 1: Visual display units
Part 2: Workstation furniture
The purpose of this series of Standards is to facilitate the development of safe working
environments for people performing screen-based tasks. However, there are essential
elements in the process of developing safe working environments which are outside the
scope of this Standard. The Standard should therefore be implemented in conjunction
with other documents such as AS 2713, Lighting and the visual environment of
screen-based tasks, and Worksafe Australia Guidance Note for the prevention of
occupational overuse syndrome in keyboard employment. (The latter covers the
organization and design of work systems, work places, training, and education.)
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In the absence of suitable data on the Australian population, published American data
have been used to specify dimensions to accommodate people in the 2.5 percentile
female to 97.5 percentile male range.
Split-field keyboards, which have been developed in an attempt to enable keyboard
operation to occur with the arms and fingers as close as possible to their neutral or
relaxed muscle posture, were considered by the committee during its work. However,
given that split-field keyboards are not widely used, their inclusion in the Standard at
this time was considered inappropriate.
Some information and preliminary readings on split-field keyboards may be obtained
from the following documents:
ILG, R. Ergonomic Keyboard Design, Behaviour and Information Technology,
Vol 6, No 3, 303-309 (1987).
NAKASEKO, M. et al. Studies on Ergonomically Designed Alpha Numeric
Keyboards, Human Factors, (27) 2, 175-185 (1985).
ROSE, M.J. The Development of Ergonomic Keyboards, Proceedings of the
Institution of Industrial Engineers Australia Conference, Manly (1986).

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payment provided such programs are used exclusively in-house by the creators of the programs.
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 3 AS 3590.3—1990

CONTENTS

Page

1 SCOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2 REFERENCED DOCUMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

3 DEFINITIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

4 KEYBOARDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
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5 MOUSE .... .. ... .. ..... ..... .................. .... .. . 5

6 MARKING .... .. ... .. ..... ..... .................. .... . 5

 AS 3590.3—1990
STANDARDS AUSTRALIA
Australian Standard
Screen-based workstations
Part 3—Input devices
1 SCOPE. This Standard specifies design requirements
for conventional QWERTY keyboards.
The Standard also includes recommendations on mouse
design.
2 REFERENCED DOCUMENTS. The following
documents are referred to in this Standard:
AS
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2287 Layout of typebar typewriter keyboards—
QWERTY
3260 Approval and test specification— Safety of
information technology equipment including
electrical business equipment
3590 Screen-based workstations
3590.1 Part 1: Visual display units
ISO
3243 Keyboards for countries whose languages have
alphabetic extenders—Guidelines for
harmonization
ANSI
X4.23 Office machines and supplies— Alphanumeric
machines—Keyboard arrangement
3 DEFINITIONS. For the purpose of this Standard, the
definitions below apply.
3.1 Shall — indicates that a statement is mandatory.
3.2 Should — indicates a recommendation.
4 KEYBOARDS.
4.1 Detachment. The keyboard shall be separate from
the VDU screen. It shall be possible to position the
keyboard within 1 m of the screen.
4.2 Profile. The vertical height of the home row of keys
above the desk top should be not greater than 30 mm.
The slope of the keyboard shall be not less than
5 degrees and not greater than 15 degrees from the
horizontal. The slope should be adjustable.
The keyboard may have a dished, sloped, flat, or stepped
profile. The front edge of the keyboard should be
rounded.
4.3 Stability. The keyboard should be stable. It should
not slip, tip, or rock during normal keying activities.
4.4 Case. The case should have the following
characteristics:
(a) Neutral soft matt finish.
(b) Surface reflectance, when determined in accordance
with the relevant part of AS 3590.1 of not less than
0.20 and not greater than 0.50.
(c) Resistant to dirt, dust, and moisture.
COPYRIGHT
4
(d) No features to make the case sharp or
uncomfortable to use.
4.5 Layout. The arrangement of alphanumeric
characters on the keyboard shall be in accordance with
AS 2287.
Function keys should be easily distinguishable, e.g.
through colour, shape, or location coding.
NOTE: The position of graphic symbols and superscripts is
largely application dependent. Standards covering this subject
are AS 2287, ISO 3243, ANSI X4.23.
4.6 Key spacing. Centreline spacing between adjacent
keys should be not less than 18 mm and not greater
than 21 mm.
4.7 Keytops. Keytops should have the following
characteristics:
(a) Neutral soft matt finish.
(b) Surface reflectance, when determined in
accordance with the relevant part of AS 3590.1, of
not less than 0.20 and not greater than 0.60.
(c) Concave shape.
(d) Alphanumeric keys not less than 12 mm square
and not greater than 15 mm square.
(e) Permanently and legibly marked with letters not
less than 3 mm in height on alphanumeric symbol
keys.
(f) Resistance to dirt, dust, and moisture.
(g) No features to make the keys sharp or
uncomfortable to press.
4.8 Key travel.
4.8.1 Function keys. The vertical travel of the function
keys shall be not less than 1.5 mm and not greater than
6.0 mm.
4.8.2 Alphanumeric keys. The vertical travel of the
alphanumeric keys should be not less than 2 mm and
not greater than 4 mm.
4.8.3 Automatic repeat function. The automatic repeat
function shall not be activated until the key has reached
the end of its travel.
4.9 Key force.
4.9.1 Function keys. The force required to depress the
function keys shall be not less than 0.25 N and not
greater than 1.5 N.
4.9.2 Alphanumeric keys. The force required to
depress the alphanumeric keys shall be not less than
0.5 N and not greater than 0.9 N.
4.10 Feedback. The key action shall have a positive
movement to provide tactile feedback. Key force should
increase with vertical displacement over approximately
40% of the total displacement, followed by a sharp and
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AS 3590.3-1990, Screen-based workstations Input

devices
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