Cabinet Organization: Why Your Lab Needs Variety

Whether you are setting up a brand-new lab space or remodeling an existing lab cabinetry plays a vital role. Laboratories need quality cabinetry in place to house materials and tools used on a daily basis as well as chemicals and components that might be needed in the future. Having a variety of cabinetry in the space allows you to set up your lab for success. Learn more about cabinet options below and how you can integrate varying types to ensure your lab is ready to function effectively.

Cabinets with Built-in Filing Systems

One area that is often overlooked in a lab is paperwork. When you are working on an experiment, you need to take notes and have paperwork that is used daily. By installing cabinetry with built-in filing systems, you can easily keep your notes in one place in the lab. Many scientists opt to have their notes and papers either strewn about or in their office. This creates a time loss as you have to find what you need to get started instead of having your paperwork neatly filed away in the same area as your experiment.

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Lab Cabinetry: Why the Material and Sizing Matters

Creating a productive lab takes time and effort. One of the major factors at play is storage. Cabinetry plays a large role in the productivity levels of a laboratory due to the fact that chemicals and other components need to be stored properly. With proper storage, researchers can find what they need, when they need it, in order to complete projects or experiments with ease. 

Durability 

Cabinetry needs to be durable and constructed in a way to provide long-term use. When setting up your lab, you do not want to have to continue to refurbish your space. You want to choose cabinetry that will last for many years, easily used in a variety of ways or moved when needed. For clean rooms, stainless steel cabinetry is best. The work surface will be easy to clean, and the material is strong, lasting for many years of service. 

Storage Capabilities

Steel cabinetry has long been the go-to option for laboratories around the world. With steel, you have a durable material that can provide quality storage for all sorts of materials. Storing components in a lab must be done with care. Steel lab cabinets can be installed in a variety of shapes and sizes to tend to your particular lab needs. Cabinets are needed to cut down on clutter and provide an organization within the workspace. With a good cabinet installation, you can easily keep track of materials, ordering more when needed, based on good organization. 

Safety is also an aspect to consider. Any chemicals need to be stored below shoulder height. Smaller cabinets will need to be used so that the chemicals can be accessed with ease without the threat of dropping or spilling due to height restrictions. 

Overall, steel cabinets are a great choice for a lab environment. With many sizes and configurations to choose from, you can easily create a lab that will work well for your everyday needs. Contact us today to see how we can configure a proper cabinet setting for your workspace.

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How Does a Fume Hood Work?

Every laboratory should have a fume hood in place, protecting researchers from contamination during research. A fume hood provides a layer of protection from chemical fumes, burns, etc. A quality fume hood can help to mitigate the risks associated with lab work. While you may have heard of a fume hood and even worked with one, do you know how it is constructed and how it operates? Learning more about fume hoods will help you to better understand why this piece of equipment is a must within a laboratory setting.

Basic Fume Hood Construction

A fume hood has several components that come together to create shelter for lab workers as well as ventilation. A fume hood consists of the body, sash, exhaust duct, baffles, and airfoil. The main components of the fume hood are the body and sash. The hood is the work surface and is enclosed on three of four sides. The lab researcher can use this area to do research. The sash portion is a window of sorts where the hood can be opened or closed to restrict the airflow.

The baffles portion is usually located at the back of a fume hood and is a slotted panel that will bring air in. The air is brought towards the back of the unit. Workers can adjust the baffles to control the amount of airflow into the fume hood. The exhaust duct is the portion of the unit that releases the contaminated air out of the space.

How Does a Fume Hood Work?

A properly installed fume hood will work to ventilate the space within a laboratory by pulling in polluted air. The air is pulled away from the worker and then moved up the exhaust duct and out of the room. The contaminated air is diluted with a mix of fresh air. This is where the design of the lab is important. There must be enough air to remove the contaminated air and mix with fresh air. When you have too many fume hoods in a small space, there will not be enough air to clean the space.

The laboratory must be designed in a way that any fume hoods installed will work at maximum efficiency. lab fume hood will provide proper protection if installed correctly. The hood construction should be considered during installation as well as a thought-out plan for the layout of the laboratory. A fume hood should not be placed near doors or emergency exits.

Hoods should also be tested on a regular basis and maintained. Filters need to be replaced at regular intervals so that the system can work as needed. Employees should also be trained efficiently on how to use the equipment as well as understand safety procedures. This will ensure no accidents occur in the workplace.

There are different types of fume hoods available, such as portables, workstation, double-faced and walk-in. Know which type you need and install the appropriate option to ensure a safe working environment.

Contact us today to learn more about fume hood options for your laboratory.

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Trends Found in Modern Labs

Today’s modern lab is quite different from the labs of yesterday. These modern labs obviously have newer equipment, but it goes beyond that. The layout and design of the modern lab have evolved to meet the needs of today’s teams. Here are a few things you might find in modern labs that you should consider including in your own workspace if you’re planning a renovation.

Work Has Shifted to be more Team-Based

Many different industries have seen a shift to more team-based work over the years, including the lab. Today’s scientific experiments, research, and testing are more social tasks than they once were. Scientists often work together on these projects, sharing research and ideas. Having a social space where that’s possible or labs large enough to accommodate these teams is becoming more of a necessity. These spaces allow people to collaborate on projects more easily, bringing their expertise together.

Open labs have become more common, too. These labs do more than just bring teams into the same space - they can save a considerable amount of money, too. They allow your scientists to share equipment, staff, and lab workbench space. Because space is shared, it’s inherently more flexible and customizable. This lets you more easily adapt the space to future projects that have different needs.

They’re Green

Modern labs have incorporated more energy-efficient equipment. This helps you save money on operating costs, plus this equipment is often cheaper or no more expensive than other options. This sustainable equipment can also help make your lab safer. One example of this type of more energy-efficient technology can be found in the laboratory fume hood. Newer hoods can be turned off when not in use to save on electricity.

Even the flooring can be made more environmentally friendly. Instead of epoxy flooring, more and more labs are using synthetic rubber combined with bio-based flooring. This flooring is incredibly durable, resistant to spills, and is ecologically better than epoxy.

If you’re in need of new lab furniture for your modern office, we’re here to help. Contact us today to see what we can do for you.

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Understanding Your Lab’s IEQ Problems.

Your lab’s indoor environmental quality or IEQ score shows how safe and user-friendly your workspace is. One way you can tell if your IEQ is fairly low is if your lab workers have complaints about the space. Everything from safety issues to noise can lower your IEQ, which is why you need to carefully consider your lab layout, furniture, equipment, and overall quality control. With all of the chemicals and potentially hazardous activities taking place in the lab on a regular basis, it’s vital that you keep your air quality, safety, and even employee comfort in mind. By fully exploring any IEQ problems your lab has, you can improve your overall quality and make your employees much happier.

The Ventilation System

Ventilation is incredibly important to your lab, especially when using chemicals. Laboratory fume hoods must be in place to pull away any dangerous fumes up and out of the lab. Even if you’re not using any potentially dangerous chemicals, you still need to cycle the air through the area regularly. Make certain fume hoods are installed and used correctly. Also consider the pressure in the lab verses the pressure in surrounding areas. If the lab is slightly less pressurized than the areas around it, chemical smells and fumes will not spread into the halls, offices, or other areas near the lab. This can be done by making certain that the amount of air leaving the lab is slightly greater than the amount being pumped into the space. Your HVAC specialists can create this pressure and should do so for every lab space.

The HVAC System as a Whole

Overall, your HVAC system plays a large part in your lab’s environmental quality. These systems have become more and more complex over the years, and today, they include many different sensors and other monitors. The location of your thermostat can play a large part in the IEQ of each lab. Because thermostats are typically installed before your lab furniture and storage solutions are, you need to take it into account when arranging your lab. If you know a lab workstation is going to be used to heat chemicals, that workstation should not be placed near the thermostat. Otherwise, the heat may interfere with the thermostat’s sensors, causing it to run unnecessarily.

You also want to make sure your employees understand how the thermostat works. Employees should be able to adjust the temperature in each lab as needed, but the controls need to be easily understood. Any lab rules such as a minimum or maximum temperature also need to be clearly posted near the thermostat.

Filters

Just as you would do with your own home HVAC filters, the filters in each lab need to be changed regularly. These filters catch dirt, pollen, and other debris, but the more this debris collects, the harder it is for clean air to be pushed through the filter. The maintenance team for the lab needs to make certain these filters are regularly cleaned. All air returns and other filter locations also need to be left uncovered and unblocked by lab wall cabinets and other furniture.

Ready to improve your lab’s IEQ score? We can help you with finding lab furniture, including fume hoods. Contact us today for more information.

Building a Green Lab

Many laboratories focus on being environmentally friendly with their chemical disposal techniques and research methods, but you can also go green with your lab design and layout. By choosing the right lab furniture, controlling the utility usage, and looking at how you dispose of waste, you can create a lab that saves energy and uses sustainable practices on a daily basis. In the end, you’ll find that going green helps reduce your overall utility costs plus gives your organization something to take pride in.

Close the Fume Hood Sash

Fume hoods are vital to the safety of a lab, especially when employees are using dangerous chemicals. This piece of lab furniture pulls dangerous fumes up and out of the area when needed while fresh air is pumped back in via the building’s HVAC system. While many labs require the air to be fully cycled a minimum of six times every hour, if you leave the fume hood sash open when it’s not in use, that number increases. That’s because air is being pulled up through the hood whether there are chemicals in use or not. By instructing your employees to always close the hood’s sash when it’s not in use, you’ll greatly reduce your overall utility usage.

This reduction can be very significant. Experts estimate it’s possible to save as much as $3,000 a year simply by closing the sash on a single laboratory fume hood. If you have multiple labs with multiple fume hoods in each, the savings can quickly add up.

Understand Your Lab

People outside your lab, including administrators, may believe you can simply shut down all of your equipment when everyone leaves for the day, but you probably know that’s impossible. While you can turn off things such as vacuum pumps, drying ovens, and water baths, there may be some tools and equipment that needs to remain running overnight. That’s why it’s useful to designate one person in the lab as the point person for implementing environmentally-friendly ideas. This person should be familiar with all of the equipment in use and know what can and cannot be shut down regularly.

Create an Inventory System

While it may not necessarily reduce your overall utility costs, knowing what chemicals you have on hand will help decrease the amount of waste you create. It will also help reduce what you spend, too. Know what you have stored in your lab cabinets so that you don’t re-order something you already have on hand. This will help you reduce the amount of the chemical that is wasted because it goes unused. Installing cabinets with glass doors can help with this, but you also need to create a full inventory system that makes it each to know when chemicals have been depleted.

Go Green from the Start

With more companies becoming more environmentally aware, many manufacturers have started offering equipment that is designed to be energy-efficient. You can look for these products, tools, and other items to help make your lab as green as possible right from the start.

Another way of making your lab more environmentally friendly is by installing the right fume hoods, cabinets, and other furniture early on. Contact us to learn more about building a green lab.

Comfortable Seating for Your Lab Staff

When looking at laboratory fume hood, many people forget to take into account the differences in office chairs. Not all desk chairs are the same. In fact, two chairs that look very similar may actually have very different designs and ratings. Some task chairs are designed only for a few hours of use, while some more ergonomic office chairs are rated for six hours of continuous use or more. Unfortunately, many people sit for much longer periods of time than they should, which can in turn lead to many different health issues.

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Why Ergonomic Chairs Are Important for Lab Staff

Sitting at a lab workstation all day can lead to neck and back pain. In fact, it’s been documented that research labs need to be just as concerned with ergonomics as any other office job. While sitting and doing lab work for hours may not seem like it would cause as much damage to the body, it does often lead employees to siting in awkward positions or making repetitive motions.

Carpal tunnel, for example, is very common among those who use computers, and it can actually be impacted by the chair the person uses. Chairs that aren’t at the right height or that don’t provide the correct support can affect how the person holds their arms, which in turn can advance carpal tunnel.

Determining the Right Type of Chair

There are a number of different ergonomic chairs available, and determining the one that works best for your staff may take some time. You do need to take into consideration the height of your lab workbench to make sure that the chair allows for ease of reach. Also make sure that the seat is wide enough for comfort and that the backrest offers lumbar support. If possible, find chairs that are rated for four hours of continual use or more.

If you’re interested in learning more about furnishing your lab, including finding the right lab tables and other items, contact us today.