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INTRODUCTION Due to European law, organizations are now forced to evaluate the ergonomic design of their workplaces, in order to determine the hazards associated with the job (EU, 1989). Inter alia, this refers to computer workplaces. But because of the fact that the law does not prescribe the methods to be applied in such an evaluation, the management of concerned organizations is frequently unsure about how to satisfy the legal requirements. As an assistance, a considerable number of evaluation tools has been developed, which are generally based on a checklist concept. In a review of such checklists for the German region, for example, Seidel-Fabian and Argyropoylos (1998) discuss 26 instruments. According to this review, the design of the checklists varies on several dimensions. As an example, the number of items ranges from 29 to well beyond 150, with the majority of checklists containing 70 or more items. A second source of variation is the design of the evaluation tools, rangin