Case Study Administrative employee at Deutsche Post DHL Group

Deutsche Post DHL Group is a global logistics and mail communications company with around 570,000 employees in more than 220 countries.
Deutsche Post DHL Group includes Deutsche Post - as a pan-European postal service provider - and DHL - as a global company active in international express shipping, freight transport, e-commerce and supply chain management.
The company makes a positive contribution to the environment and society through responsible action, targeted environmental protection measures and corporate citizenship, among other things.

The woman has a walking disability based on a disorder of movement coordination (ataxia). Due to her severe disability, she relies on walking aids to get around.

The employee works in the house service department of the employer's Duisburg MAIL branch.

She works at a computer workstation in an office. Her job includes various administrative tasks from the house service area. For her everyday work she currently only needs a satisfactory sized office with ergonomic office furniture (e.g. work desk and office swivel chair) and appropriate freedom of movement to enable barrier-free locomotion with her walking aids or rollator.
The office swivel chair used in the workplace has a parking brake that prevents the chair from slipping away while the employee is leaning on the armrests of the office swivel chair to sit down and stand up. The office swivel chair was selected and tested together with the employee beforehand.

The employee has access to a widened, designated and illuminated parking space for disabled persons directly at the side entrance (Fig. 1). The employee walks from the parking space or from her car via the side entrance into the building without using walking aids. This is made possible by lowering the curbs and using a ramp with a slight incline and handrails (Figures 2 and 3). The ramp is also illuminated (Figure 4) and can be heated in the lower part so that it remains free of snow and ice in winter. At the entrance door of the side entrance there is a switch with which the door can be opened automatically. Another handrail has been installed from the entrance door to the beginning of the corridor, where the employee can lean on it. At the end of the handrail there is a rollator with which the employee can move to her workplace. The workplace is located on the second floor of the building and can be reached by means of a standard passenger elevator. All corridor doors on the way to the workplace can be opened by electromotive door openers and closers by pressing a switch (Fig. 5) and then closed automatically (Fig. 6). For assurance reasons, there is a sticker with a warning notice on the corresponding doors (Fig. 7).
At the suggestion of the occupational safety specialist, an additional evacuation chair was purchased because the employee's office is located on the second floor and, for example, the lift may not be used in the event of a fire. The evacuation chair enables a colleague to transport the employee down the stairs in a seated position. The evacuation chair slides easily and not too fast with its runners over the front edge of the steps.

Rollators and delta walkers (rollators)
Handrails and railings
Rescue equipment (evacuation chairs)
Work tables
Work and office chairs (work chair with castor brake)