Maintainers perform dozens of tasks every day that require time, effort, focus, and action, making their work both mentally and physically demanding. And the pressure on maintainers is only mounting as the needs for improved hygiene and improved productivity continue to increase. For this reason, designers of the products maintainers come in frequent contact with are taking a user-centered design approach.
User-centered design is grounded in understanding a product user’s needs, empathizing with their preferences, and designing a product to meet those needs and preferences. The approach results in products that are easy to use and intuitive to navigate.
Restroom paper towel, tissue, and soap dispensers are among the products maintainers most frequently interact with when performing their duties. Here are three emerging user-centered design trends that prioritize the maintainer experience:
Colour-coded directives
A paper towel dispenser looks quite simple from the outside, but automated touchless dispensers have a lot of moving parts and technology on the inside. When a maintainer opens a dispenser to replace a paper towel roll, all of those parts and systems can be intimidating, and it can be difficult to know what lever to pull or what button to press to complete what should be a quick and easy task.
Colour coding lets maintainers know which parts of the dispenser to touch. For example, levers or buttons that are blue could signify that maintainers use them to take a specific action or perform a needed task.
Another use of colour is with clearly visible indicator lights that let the maintainer – and consumer – know if a dispenser is out of product or requires service. Green could indicate the dispenser is loaded and working properly; red could indicate the dispenser requires attention. This type of functionality eliminates the need for maintainers to open each dispenser to check its status, freeing them to perform higher value cleaning tasks.
Harder working functionality
A common complaint among facility managers is that well-intentioned maintainers replace product unnecessarily, which is both wasteful and costly. Consider a multi-roll toilet paper dispenser. When maintainers open the dispenser to replace an empty roll, they often replace rolls that are almost empty as well, so they don’t need to do it later.
To meet the needs of facility managers who want to reduce waste and costs as well as maintainers who want to be efficient with their time, one new-to-market four-roll tissue dispenser has an independent roll spindle system. The system enables each roll holder to operate individually, dropping into the loading position only when empty. Not only does this technology eliminate stub roll waste, it has also been shown to reduce load time by 40 per cent.
With this and similar design features, the dispenser works harder so maintainers can work smarter. Maintainers don’t need to debate whether or not to replace a tissue roll or question the most efficient course of action because the dispenser only allows them to replace empty rolls.
Ergonomic features
There are countless steps involved in refilling a dispenser, whether it holds paper towel, tissue, or soap, and it seems, at times, that maintainers would benefit from having three or four hands to best complete this task.
Among the many principles user-based design incorporates is ergonomics, which is the study of people in their work environment. Ergonomics prioritizes a worker’s wellbeing and aims to eliminate their discomfort or potential risk of injury when performing their job. Among a number of benefits, applying ergonomics to dispenser design results in maintainers being able to easily and comfortably refill them.
One example of an ergonomic dispenser design feature is contoured soap bottles that are easy to hold in one hand while the other hand opens the dispenser and easily grasps and removes the empty bottle. Simply changing the shape of the bottle reduces how often maintainers must walk back and forth to their supply cart, allowing them to seamlessly complete the task.
In restroom maintenance, every minute and every movement counts for busy maintainers who are physically and mentally engaged for six, eight, even 12 hours at a time. Dispensers designed from a user-centered approach help maintainers improve their speed of service, successfully complete tasks on the first try, and focus more of their attention on higher value cleaning tasks. As a result, they also have the potential to improve company culture, giving maintainers a higher sense of confidence in their abilities and greater satisfaction in their work.
Ronnie Phillips, who has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology, is senior director of Washroom Innovation at GP PRO, the away-from-home division of Georgia-Pacific, and an adjunct faculty member in Georgia State University-Perimeter College’s Chemistry Department. GP PRO is a recognized leader in designing innovative restroom solutions that meet the needs of both restroom users and maintainers. To learn more, visit www.gppro.com.
