Case Study
Workplace design for a newly hired industrial mechanic

The employer is a mechanical engineering company which manufactures screen printing machines, copying equipment, hand printing tables, etc. The company had relocated its production to the new Länder. The company had relocated its production to the new federal states and took over a part of the company with 40 employees of a mechanical engineering company there. The technical office remained in the old federal states during this relocation. This attempt ended in bankruptcy, so the company reestablished a small production operation at the old location.

The man has a visual impairment. His residual vision is still 30%. He has limited ability to perceive visual information, such as writing or symbols. He also has cardiac arrhythmia. According to an occupational health report, the man can work full shifts in alternating shifts, both outdoors and in factory halls. He can be expected to do medium-heavy work all the time. If possible, this work should not be associated with time pressure or stress due to lifting or carrying more than 20 kg. The GdB (degree of handicap) is 100. The severely handicapped person's identity card contains the marks G, aG, Bl, H and RF.

The man completed a three-year training course in a vocational training centre to become a machine fitter. Prior to the vocational training, he had worked as an unskilled worker in the construction, horticultural and metalworking sectors since the age of 15. After the vocational training he worked for 11 years in the workshop for disabled people of an association for the blind. He left this workshop at his own request and has been unemployed since then.
As part of his duties in the workshop for disabled people, the employee was tasked with assembling and packing accessories such as screws, assembly parts and other small parts for the furniture industry. According to his account, this activity was not satisfactory for him. He wanted to work, following his learned job, as a machinist in a normal employment relationship subject to compulsory insurance.

The machine fitter was newly employed by the company. He is to assume responsibility for the materials warehouse there. This includes the proper storage or retrieval and cutting of material for individual jobs. The stored bar material has maximum dimensions of 6 m and a weight of up to 30 kg, whereby 80% of these parts weigh less than 20 kg and a crane can be used for storage. In order to be able to cut the material to size for the orders, it was necessary for the machine fitter to purchase an appropriately suitable cold circular sawing machine. In addition to the normal equipment, this machine is equipped with an NC-controlled replenishment system, a complete separate control panel with integrated screen including a screen magnification as well as additional safety equipment and complete encapsulation of the machining area in the operating state. The workplace designed in this way complies with the medical certificate. The special requirements for the safety equipment are satisfactory fulfilled. Also the condition for a qualitative execution of the work is ensured by the screen with the enlargement possibilities.

The workplace design suitable for disabled people was supported by the integration and inclusion office with 40% of the total costs. The binding period was set at 8 years. The consulting was carried out by the engineering service of the integration or inclusion office - the so-called technical consulting service.