Att kroka på: Fysisk ergonomiutredning och användarcentrerad produktutveckling på industriellt tvätteri

Abstract

Tvätteriet Alingsås (The industrial laundry facility in Alingsås) is part of the Västra Götaland region and it is an industrial laundry facility that handles about 37 tonnes of laundry daily, delivered in laundry bags from hospitals, medical centres and dental care facilities. The project focuses on the “hooking” station, which is where the laundry bags are emptied from trolleys and hooked onto transportation lines for further handling. The physical work environment of the facility has previously been assessed as “red” according to the Swedish Work Environment Authority's risk assessment scale in the region's evaluation, which stands for "high load situation, physical overload is likely. The design of the workplace must be changed." The aim of the project was thus to develop, through ergonomic evaluations and a product development process, a concept that would lead to an assessment of the station as "green", that stands for "a low load situation, physical overload is unlikely." The solution would be implemented in the existing system with the goal of reducing occupational injuries while maintaining production capacity. The work was mainly carried out remotely due to Covid- 19 restrictions, which resulted in only two physical visits during the project period.

The region's previous assessment of the issues was confirmed through data collection, user studies and evaluation with ergonomic tools. The operation with the highest risk of physical overload turned out to be the recurring heavy lifting above shoulder height when handling lattices on trolleys without the possibility of recovery. The collected data from the feasibility study resulted in a list of requirements that formed the basis for ideation, conceptualization and analysis.

The final concept is a proposal for a "green" workstation visualized in layout sketches as well as a proposal of a lifting device for trolleys, visualized with CAD models, that eliminates high and heavy lifting. The workplace setup includes better working heights, lifting aids and more flexibility in working positions for operators than at present.

In conclusion, the feasibility study and product development process are considered to provide a good foundation for Tvätteriet Alingsås continued work to improve their physical work environment.