Consulting, Planning and Equipping - Kinetech Medical

Consulting, Planning and Equipping
Consulting, Planning,
and Equipping
Before beginning renovation of an existing building,
or starting construction on a new building,
an appropriate floor plan must be designed.
For this reason, Otto Bock has developed a
special programme to provide a sound basis
for designing building plans. This concept is
presented on the following pages.
Our concept utilises schematics of individual,
functional operation areas and their corresponding
room layouts. These are then used as components
in appropriate building projects. Depending
on the size and structure of your business, entire
functional operation areas or individual rooms may
either be consolidated, or divided, as needed.
In the beginning stages of planning, several basic
factors should be taken into consideration.
Some examples of these are as follows:
• Construction should be designed to provide
full accessibility according to national standards
• Building codes and zoning laws as defined
by the local governmental authorities
• Health, fire, and environmental protection
codes
• Work safety regulations covering noise, ventilation
and exhaust, dust evacuation, lighting,
view to the outside, etc.
• Contact the regulating authorities as early as
possible
From the technical construction standpoint, the
following should also be considered during the
first planning phase:
• Weight bearing capacity of ceilings
• Existing installations for water, sewer, electricity,
gas, etc.
• Stairs and elevators
• Utility rooms, storage areas, etc.
• Parking
• Technical orthopaedic factors, as well as individual
business structures, heavily influence
the planning process which, above all, should
be future oriented
• Separation of medical supplies store, rehabilitation,
and workshop areas
• Proper balance between prosthetic and orthotic
fabrication, etc., in the workshop
• Sub-division of individual laboratory departments
according to materials used, such as fabrication
in metal, wood, plastic, plaster, etc.
• Relationship of the number of employees to
the size of the work space, machinery, and
laboratory equipment
• Present type and number of patients served
by the facility and expected changes
• Interaction with specialists and hospitals
Today's ergonomic principles must be considered
during individual room planning. In addition,
the workload within the laboratory and related
operation areas, as well as the unique requirements
of technical orthopaedics will determine
such details as exemplified by:
• Short distances to fitting rooms
• Short distances between machinery
• Noisy and dirty areas kept separate from patient
areas
• Similar departments or work areas should be
organized for optimal work flow (please refer
to room concept schematics)
• Efficient placement of machinery, workbenches,
and appliances and their corresponding power
connections
• Installation of lighting, electricity, compressed
air, water, sewer, telephone, intercom, etc.
• Assessment of electrical power needs
• Machine waste removal
• Exhaust system for lamination work area
• Cost effective plaster traps
• Floor construction and coverings corresponding
to the specific purpose of each room
In the following room concept, the individual
working areas are represented schematically
and marked with colours according to their
functions. The following layouts are only sample
illustrations of planning options.
646D69=GB Technical article: Orthopaedic
workshop: aspects of planning and
equipping
8 Otto Bock HealthCare GmbH | Consulting, Planning and Equipping | www.ottobock.com