6.  Provide  for  future  expansion,  reduction,  or moving, as the case may be Factors  for  Consideration While many unique situations may be encountered in  planning  office  layout  ashore  or  afloat,  it  is  not practical to outline a standard procedure to follow here. Some general guidelines are as follows: Use one large space in preference to an equal area of small spaces.    This  permits  better  lighting, ventilation,  supervision,  and  communication. Keep  desks,  filing  cabinets,  and  other  equipment at  uniform  size  in  any  one  area  to  improve appearance. Use straight, parallel lines in the layout. Avoid offsets, jogs, and angular arrangements. Provide  for  paperwork  to  flow  in  straight  lines, if  possible. Provide  for  expanding  workloads. Keep   layout   flexible,   anticipating   future changes. Keep  related  and  similar  components  close together. Place supervisors at the rear of their work groups, so they can easily observe problem areas. Have  working  personnel  facing  in  the  same direction,  not  each  other. Arrange desks so that ample natural light comes over  the  left  shoulder  (or  right  shoulder  for left-handed  personnel). Avoid  having  personnel  face  a  window  or  wall, be close to heat sources, or be in line of drafts. Provide   sufficient   electrical   outlets   for equipment. Locate components that normal] y have many visitors near the entrance to avoid disturbing other  personnel. Locate  tiles  and  frequently  used  equipment  near those who use them. Place filing cabinets back to back. When possible, provide a lounge area (including vending  machines  and  bulletin  boards)  so  that personnel may relax during rest periods away l from  their  work  area  without  disturbing  other working  personnel. Allocate the prescribed number of square feet per worker as discussed in the following paragraphs. Spare  Standards When  computing  the  required  space  for  an  office, 60 square feet is a desirable standard floor area for each clerical  worker.  This  figure  should  be  doubled  for  the division  officer  and  the  division  leading  CPO.  To illustrate,  suppose  an  office  force  is  to  be  composed  of eight clerical workers plus the division officer and CPO. The space requirement for this office would be 720 square feet (8 x 60) +(2 x 120). An office 20-feet wide and 36-feet long would meet these standards. This standard is based on using double pedestal desks, stand- ard aisles, and the normal accumulation of tiles. There is, of course, no fast rule for the number of square feet per office worker, so this is only for estimation or com- parison. The space that can be used is influenced by the nature of the work, the available total area, the number and type of office equipment used, the shape and ex- posure of the space, and obstructions within the space. Adequate space may not be available aboard ship to meet these standards. This is overcome partially by using smaller single pedestal desks and by reducing the volume  of  files.  However,  the  basic  considerations  are still  people,  workload,  and  workflow.  The  fore,  crowded and awkward working areas should not be tolerated if any other solution can be found. Some temporary solu- tions that might be considered are staggering working hours or establishing a night shift so that some of the desks can be used by two workers, using vacant storage space  for  office  work,  taking  advantage  of  school quotas, and borrowing space from other divisions. Space standards may be broken down in individual items such as desks, chairs, and files. For example, when standard double pedestal desks (60 inches by 34 inches) are arranged as single units with aisles adjacent, or when they are arranged in pairs, end for end, with aisles  adjacent  to  each  desk,  the  minimum  space standard from back to back of desks is about 72 inches. This allows a 3-foot space for the chair and for getting in and out from behind the desk. When three or more desks are used end for end, with aisles adjacent to outer desks only, the minimum standard per desk is increased by 1 foot, providing a chair space of approximately 4 feet. The extra foot is required by the middle person for entry and exit. Figure  2-5  illustrates  space  standards  for  various desk arrangements. Generally speaking, the two-desk, 2-8