I recently visited Chewonki, a school, camp, and farm in Wisscasset, ME that had a recent visit from an ergonomics consultant at their beautiful new pack shed. Some insurance companies offer these visits for free as an injury (and claim) prevention measure.
Several things that struck me:
They were experimenting with different heights for wash bins, harvest crate landing zones, and drying racks using combinations of cinder blocks, stacked pallets and adjustable kitchen racks. They have a constantly changing work crew of different ages and physical abilities. I thought it was a great way of settling into a new workspace and getting a feel for efficiency, flow, and positions of things before committing with permanent fixtures.
Lessons learned:- bring the work to you, and
- prototype your layout before building anything permanent.
The tool shed attached to the wash packed shed was highly organized. Again, with a dynamic, changing crew it is important that tool location be standard and searching be minimized.
Lessons learned:- a place for everything, and everything in its place.
I loved the lighter grey stock tankss / waterers they were using. They allow easy checks for water change timing (vs. darker materials).
Lessons learned:- consider all options when purchasing what seems like a simple, standard thing
- passive solutions to challenges often come at little to no cost premium.
Thanks to the fine fine folks at Chewonki for hosting me and sharing some of the great work they’re doing. They also have a whale skeleton hanging in one of their main halls. That is another story.