Busan Office of Education Takes Action to Address Musculoskeletal Disorders Among School Meal Workers

Pilot Operation of 'Lightweight Grating Project for School Cafeteria Kitchens'

Reducing Repetitive Handling of Heavy Objects to Create a Safer Work Environment

The Busan Office of Education is taking steps to reduce the handling of heavy objects, a major factor contributing to musculoskeletal disorders among school meal service workers.

The office will pilot the "Lightweight Grating Project for Cafeteria Kitchens" at five schools, including Noksan Elementary School, until September.

The "grating" refers to the cover for the drainage channel beneath cooking equipment such as soup kettles in school kitchens. Typically made of stainless steel, each grating weighs around 14 kg and is considered one of the heaviest items in school cafeterias.

Currently, six to eight gratings are installed in each school kitchen. To clean the drainage channels, meal service workers have to lift the gratings up to 16 times a day, which significantly increases the strain on their musculoskeletal systems.

In response, the Busan Office of Education selected five schools for the pilot project last March and launched the lightweight grating initiative to prevent industrial accidents and create a safer working environment for meal service workers.

By mid-June, the office replaced the existing steel gratings at these schools with aluminum ones weighing only 5 to 7 kg?less than half the weight of the original. The new gratings have been treated for corrosion resistance and made thicker than the previous models to enhance durability and facilitate easy maintenance.

Taking into account the cafeteria kitchen environment, which constantly deals with hot water and oil, the office will operate the pilot for six months and assess the safety and hygiene of the aluminum gratings.

After the pilot, the office will analyze meal service workers' satisfaction, durability, and safety to determine whether to expand the project.

Busan Superintendent Ha Yoonsoo stated, "The Busan Office of Education is doing its utmost to improve the working environment for meal service workers," adding, "We will thoroughly promote the lightweight grating project to help resolve musculoskeletal disorders among meal service workers."