At the BC Care Providers Conference, Sharon Simpson was pleased to present the innovative solution created by our Maintenance Team – the “pitch” took the format of the popular Dragons Den television show. Menno Place won $2000 which will go directly back into other innovations to improve the safety of our staff at Menno Place.
Here’s the pitch…
Hello, Safety Dragons,
We are pitching to you an opportunity to share the pride in our safety innovation that has saved time, money and prevented injury. This is an opportunity to share the story of how innovative people across multiple teams are creating a safer work environment for our staff which in turn creates higher quality care for the residents at Menno Place.
First, we need to introduce our team who made our innovation possible:
Demaris Stanciu, whose works on our laundry team.
Bas Kervel who is our innovative Manager, Environmental Services and Materiel Management
Frank Riley who can take an innovative idea and turn it into a reality.
Our philosophy at Menno Place is that every team member deserves a safe work environment, the training to work safely and the tools to do their job without risk of injury. It is a known fact that injuries in the continuing care sector are experienced more than almost any other occupation. At Menno Place we are setting high standards and providing innovative solutions for circumstances that have the potential to cause an injury at our workplace. Let us tell you about one such creative innovation…
The problem:
In the past few years, we began to notice that the 350 tenants in our Independent Living Apartments were beginning in their new home in need of more supportive services. In response, we encouraged tenants to sign up for more services that would support their independence. As we spoke to each tenant, they became aware of our services and many of them chose to increase the supports that they were receiving. This resulted in a large increase in tenants using our personal laundry service. As demand increased, it became clear that using the local washers and dryers within the Independent Living Apartments would not meet the increasing need for washing and drying tenants clothing.
As a campus-of-care, we have several commercial laundry rooms that would easily hbe able to meet the growing demand for personal laundry to be washed and dried. The primary hurdle was how to transport the laundry across our 11 acre campus in a way that would not injure the team member who was doing the transporting. That team member is Demaris. She knew that pushing a laundry cart that weighs up to 200lbs through buildings and across parking lots was a high-risk for injury. She identified her concerns with her supervisor who brought it to the maintenance team to find a solution to the problem.
The solution would have to provide a safe method of laundry transport. It would have to be easy to use. It would need to work both indoors and out. It would need to go from one end of the campus to another without running out of power, leaving odors or tracking in messes. Gas-powered tractor-trailers would not work. Shopping carts could injure the team member. This would take ingenuity!
The solution:
After a brainstorm session, our maintenance team proposed the idea of putting a traditional laundry cart on the base of an electric wheelchair. This would enable laundry transportation to be done without lifting, pulling or hauling. This solution had no odors and could work easily both inside and outdoors. It was cost-effective and would remove the risk of injury for Demaris or any other member of our laundry team.
Bas and Frank put their minds together and created the design for the motorized laundry hauler. They would use an electric wheelchair from our special equipment supply. They found one that was no longer rentable. The foot pad would be where the driver stands. The controller would be used to move forward, turn and slow down. There would be good ground clearance and the ability to support up to 200lbs of laundry which allowed for damp or wet laundry to be included in the load. Like a power wheelchair, this laundry hauler is able to cover a lot of territory with a battery that recharges and can drive for over 20kms between charging.
The result
A completely efficient Power Laundry Hauler that is designed to move laundry in comfort and safety. It can move up to 200lbs of laundry without risk of injury to our team members. This has saved time and has made it possible to provide unlimited personal laundry services for our independent apartment tenants.
How it is working
The Laundry Hauler is used three times per week to zip from one building to the next to collect soiled laundry and return clean laundry to tenants. It moves easily from outdoors to indoors allowing the laundry team to efficiently and safely collect personal laundry for transport to and from the laundry room. The Laundry Hauler travels four city blocks in each of its laundry rounds around the campus.
The Laundry Hauler in the Safety Den
The Laundry Hauler is the ideal innovation for The Safety Den. It is a grassroots solution for a problem that put our staff in risk of injury. It is perfect for The Safety Den as it is a prototype that can be replicated on other campuses-of-care and long term care workplaces.
