Sink Height

David Price
Member - 79 posts

Normally a sink is fitted to the customers requirements, most commercial kitchen sinks come on pre - made stands which are sold in various heights.

What may suit a worker who is 5ft tall will not suit a worker that is 6ft 6" tall as he or she would have to bend a lot more to use the same sink, the depth of the bowl is not taken into account, as it is based on the height of the sink it's self.

If you have carried out a risk assessment for the user of the sink, you will quickly identify that it is not always possible to get the right height to the person every time. Adjusting the sink for a taller person will cause problems for a shorter person, and vice versa.

My advice is buy a diswasher on a stand, a machine that is not a person wasing dishes whilst balancing on a stand. This normally gets around the sink height problem, and also may free the sink up for other uses.

It would not be advisable to continue to let a worker who is complaing of back ache to continue to use a sink, if it can be proven that they are having to streach or bend to use it.

Hilary Ross - Bond Pearce LLP
Online advisor - 1 post

As far as I am aware the height of commercail sinks is not set out in legislation. However guaidance can be found in British Standrards. I have not been able to ascertain the exact BS reference but am aware that BS 3705:1972 used to set out the dimension and height of catering equipment, sinks etc. There is also guidance available in BS for height of sinks in schools etc and part m of the Building Regulations will also contain relevant guidance for disabled perosns. In any event it is necessary to take into account the average height of your employees etc. Risk assessments should identiy steps which should be taken for employees who fall out with thsi average height either because they are taller or smaller.

David Sharp - Workplace Law Network
Online advisor - 122 posts

Mark - you and I spoke briefly yesterday about this. I discussed the question with Stan Atkins, Executive Director at the British Institute of Cleaning Science, whose views were very similar to those of David, above. To the best of his knowledge, the height at which a commerical kitchen sink is fitted is a matter of custom and practice - depending on what the plumbers/installers normally do, and the specifics of any location (e.g. location of mains).

It's impossible to have an 'ideal' height for a sink, because everyone's body shape is different.

Applying the hierarchy of control measures to the situation, I suppose the safest option would be to eliminate the risk completely, but using a dishwashing machine, or if that's not appropriate, reducing exposure by using pre-wash machines to minimise the amount of time at the sink. Other measures might include rotating tasks frequently, so that no one is working at the sink for too long, or you could introduce a portable step if some people are struggling to reach, but this should probably be avoided because it introduces a tripping/slipping hazard!

If anyone is able to expand on Hilary's thoughts, I'd be interested to know.

BTW Mark, I gave Stan your number, he says he'll be in touch.