Hygiene stations in the dairy industry

With a milk processing volume of more than 2.3 billion kg of milk and a turnover of around 1.65 billion euros in 2020, Hochwald Foods GmbH ranks as the third largest dairy company in Germany. Mohn GmbH is equipping Europe's most modern dairy with hygiene technology at its new location in Mechernich, Germany.

Around 250 employees process 800 million kilograms of milk a year into high-quality dairy products such as UHT milk, UHT cream, UHT milk mix products and condensed milk.

Task

In addition to numerous hand washing stations and parts washing stations, personnel hygiene stations were required in certain access areas to production lines. Special attention was paid to the fact that, due to the number of employees, a controlled, so-called forced hand hygiene with sole disinfection was to take place. In addition, each personnel hygiene station had to be equipped with a hinged gate with a magnetic lock, which opens the escape route in case of panic. The cleaning staff also had to be allowed access to the hygiene areas via the hinged gate.

The aim was to control the hygiene stations within the room centrally from an external control cabinet with the highest protection class IP69K. This hygienic design control cabinet was to contribute to the protection of the special requirements for the electrical and electronic equipment that occur during cleaning with regard to water temperature and water pressure or water jet force.

We present an example of an implemented room concept for the personnel hygiene stations at the Mechernich plant in Germany.

 

Personnel hygiene station for 250 persons in 2-shift operation - Please click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Project description and special features

The personnel hygiene station was realised within a 70 sqm room on the basis of a 2-shift operation. The personnel were to be guided through the airlock in a controlled manner in order to use the hygiene facilities before entering the production rooms.

The shift personnel enter by means of access control via a double-lane 2-hand soap dispenser with turnstiles of the type Soap-Control Duo Highline, in order to be able to apply soap to both hands simultaneously for the start of the hygiene process. The automatic soap dispenser is equipped with sensor control technology that is fail-safe. It is not possible to trick it by attempting to apply soap with one hand or by deception. After soap has been applied to both hands, the electric turnstile enables access to the hygiene sluice for one person. The power cable for the connection is installed from the ceiling and laid cleanly and hygienically via stainless steel mesh channels.

A canister holder for the soap agent, which can be locked with a padlock, prevents tampering. The double-lane 2-hand soap dispenser is equipped with a document tray so that any necessary documents can be taken back to production after the hand cleaning process.

Stainless steel guide barriers (railings) prevent the soap application process from being "bypassed". Pulling back a locking arm of the 3-arm turnstile in the opposite direction and allowing staff to "slip through" is prevented by an electrical lock. Since the double-lane soap dispenser is also used for the staff's return journey, a release by means of a button is required before a staff member can pass through the turnstile.

In order to be able to wash the applied soap from both hands, 10 hand washing stations, divided into 2 hand washing troughs with 5 washing stations each, are available to the staff. Each washing station is equipped with touch-free, sensor-controlled fittings.

Hand drying is done by means of continuous roll paper in stainless steel roll boxes, which are wall-mounted in the immediate vicinity of the hand-washing basins.

In the further course of the controlled hygiene process, a double-lane continuous sole cleaning machine with 2-hand disinfection device and vandal-proof turnstile of the type Clean-Check 1500 DUO Highline follows.

This hygiene station ensures that employees only enter the production area with disinfected hands and cleaned and disinfected shoe soles. The functioning of the 2-hand disinfection machine with integrated electric turnstile only releases in the direction of production when both hands have been properly detected by the foolproof sensors and wetted with disinfectant by the full-cone jet nozzles.

At the same time, the employees' soles are cleaned and disinfected in the lower area by rotating brush rollers. The installed spring pot technology developed by Mohn enables savings in electricity, water and chemicals compared to conventional sensor control systems available on the market.

The optimised railing as well as the high-quality control technology make the hygiene sluice an unavoidable facility in its individual steps.

Integrated into the personnel routing concept of the hygiene station are two hinged gates with magnetic locks that provide the legally required escape route out of the production area in the event of a panic. In addition, these are also used by the cleaning staff.

The control of the complete personnel hygiene station, including the hinged gate systems, is carried out centrally from an IP69K-protected Hygienc Design control cabinet, which is mounted on the wall. For maintenance and service work, as well as for any necessary dosing adjustments, the personnel routes are always clear and no one gets "in the way".

In case of questions on this project, we would like to advise you by telephone on +49 (0) 2354 -94 45-0 , or please use our contact form.

We would also like to call you at the requested time. So you can determine the date and time. For this, just use our callback service