Case Study
Workplace design for a woman in the laundry

The employer is a senior center that includes a nursing home and assisted living facility.

The woman has a hip, spine and ankle condition. She experiences pain during physical tasks due to the disease. The woman should therefore not be employed for activities which require frequent as well as heavy lifting and carrying. This applies in particular to the assumption of certain postures (e.g. bending and standing) when carrying out activities. The GdB (degree of disability) is 40. The woman has been treated by the employment agency as equal to severely disabled persons.

The woman is a trained cook. She first worked in the housekeeping area in the kitchen and was later transferred to the laundry of the senior center for health reasons.

In the laundry, the woman is responsible for resident and house laundry. Her duties include:

• filling and emptying the washers, spin dryers and dryers,
• ironing and folding the linens, and
• placing the finished linens into transport cars.

In order to reduce the workload, two electric height-adjustable work tables were purchased for placing and folding laundry, a mobile saddle chair for sitting and changing posture while ironing and folding laundry, and three spring-floor trolleys for placing and transporting wet and dry laundry. In addition, the dryer was placed on a pedestal to make it easier to fill and remove the laundry. Due to the assistive products used and the structural changes, highly stressful postures such as bending, stooping and standing for long periods of time when lifting, ironing and folding the laundry can be avoided by adopting an ergonomic working posture.

The workplace design was supported by the Integration and Inclusion Office. Advice was provided by the engineering service for suitable for disabled people work design of the integration or inclusion office - the so-called technical advisory service.