Case Study Design of a workplace for a kitchen assistant

The employer is a small spa.

The woman has a knee joint damage and a skin disease or contact allergy. The GdB (degree of disability) is 50. Due to her disability, the woman has only limited ability to lift and carry heavy loads, to kneel or squat frequently and to work with certain substances (in case of skin contact).

The woman works as a kitchen assistant for the employer.

The woman works in the kitchen of the spa. Her tasks include:
- food preparation (cleaning vegetables etc.)
- helping with cooking and
- washing dishes and cutlery.
Due to the current layout of the scullery and the arrangement of the sink, the kitchen assistant has to carry the trays of dirty dishes transported by a vertical conveyor from the canteen to the kitchen several metres to the sink storage area for pre-rinsing. When pre-rinsing, she must wear cotton and rubber gloves because of her skin condition. After pre-rinsing, she puts the items in the dishwasher. She has problems carrying the heavy trays of dishes and putting them in and out of the dishwasher because of her knee damage.

The employer wants to remove the existing fixtures and the dishwasher and replace them with new ones. When refitting the scullery, it is planned to install a roller conveyor in the immediate vicinity of the vertical conveyor, via which the trays can be pushed by the kitchen assistant directly to a stainless steel sink unit with basin and draining board. At the sink, the kitchen assistant places the soiled dishes and cutlery in plastic rinsing baskets lounging above the sink, and then pre-rinses them with the shower of the single-lever faucet. After pre-rinsing, the rinsing baskets are pushed on one level into the open push-through dishwasher and the hood is closed. While the dishwasher is running, the kitchen assistant can already fill the next rinse basket and pre-rinse. To remove the crockery and cutlery cleaned by the dishwasher, the kitchen assistant opens the hood and first pushes the rinsing baskets onto a stainless steel table with a storage and drying surface on the other side of the dishwasher. Before placing the dishes and cutlery on transport cars, she slides the baskets with the pre-rinsed items into the dishwasher and closes the hood. When the transport cars are completely loaded with dishes and cutlery, the kitchen assistant pushes them into a lift. The lift takes the transport cars to the kitchen area of the small canteen. From there, the crockery and cutlery are provided for the customers.

hand-guided industrial transport equipment (table trolleys)
Conveyors (roller conveyors)