Case Study Workplace design and vehicle adaptations for a clerk

The hospital is part of a healthcare group with other hospitals.

The woman is of short stature with a height of 90 cm and is dependent on the use of a wheelchair. Due to her height, her grasping space / foot space as well as her mobility are limited. The GdB (degree of disability) is 100.

The woman has completed vocational training as an office clerk at the hospital. Since the end of her vocational training she has been working as a clerk in the personnel department.

As a personnel clerk, the office administrator also has to create, process and manage conventional personnel files. The personnel files must therefore be placed within her reach in the office space. Due to her height and the very limited space available for her to reach the files, loose-leaf binders, forms, etc. stored in the usual cupboards, she was unable to reach them.
For this reason, a small office paternoster (carousel) was installed in the workroom. For this purpose, the smallest possible size was chosen in order to maintain the necessary space for movement in the office. The office paternoster offers easy access to the stored file folders, since with this assistive products the file folders can be electrically transported to the required removal and filing height. The office paternoster thus compensates for the employee's limited reach and enables her to work independently.

The employee uses a car with automatic transmission that has been converted to be suitable for disabled people to travel between home and work. In order to make the vehicle suitable for disabled people, it was equipped with:
- an electrically smoothly adjustable driver's seat (height and tilt adjustment, forward and backward),
- a smaller steering wheel with gas ring and service brake,
- an extra-light power steering system for operation,
- a remote control mounted in the restricted reach area for operation of secondary functions (turn signals, windshield wipers, horn, and lights),
- an extension to operate the handbrake and the automatic selector lever,
- a larger rear-view mirror to compensate for the restricted rear field of vision,
- a parking heater (so that snow as well as ice does not have to be removed from the windows) and
- a wheelchair loading system, which takes over the loading and unloading of the wheelchair after it has been moved.
For driving the car appropriate conditions were made by the driving licence office and the TÜV.

In the hospital building, the employee uses the existing passenger elevator to reach the workplace.

Motor vehicle accessories and adaptations for the control of speed
Brake control for parking and releasing the parking brake
Motor vehicle accessories and adaptations for steering operation
Motor vehicle accessories and adaptations for the operation of the auxiliary functions
Motor vehicle seats and cushions and accessories and adaptations
Assistive products for loading or unloading a wheelchair without a user into or onto a motor vehicle
Manually controlled wheelchairs
Lifts
Storage and supply systems (carousels)