Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Guide to Selecting Laboratory Furniture

By Joshua Geary

When it comes to choosing laboratory furniture, you should be more discriminating. The things that need to be done inside labs are daunting and require the use of chemicals and materials that are flammable or hazardous. Thus, the chairs, tables, storage spaces, and shelves that you choose for your laboratory should be of superior quality.



In picking furniture for your laboratory, whether it is in a company or school, you have to ensure that you strike a balance between comfort and functionality, cost and quality. Your typical wood and metal casework used to be the preferred choice for laboratory furniture, however lab environments are what they used to be. Today's labs require flexible and scalable solutions to adjust with work requirements in order to increase the efficiencies within the lab environment. Most laboratories are lined with casework with storage, which unfortunately are not utilized properly. If you work in a modern lab environment, then you are probably already aware that more drawers and cabinets doesn't automatically mean you're organized. Here are the factors that you should bear in mind when looking for furnishings for a laboratory.

Laboratory furniture should be easy to clean and safe? Just like in the movies and in your school, laboratory furniture should be easy to clean and safe. Seats that have ornate designs and carvings have no place for a school or office lab because they are not only hard to clean, but they may not be sturdy enough or safe as well. Furniture that is made of hard plastic or metal is sometimes preferred than the ones that are made of wood or have cushions and other types of fabric. Since bleach and other types of strong cleaning materials are usually used to clean lab tables, chairs and floors, it is important that the furniture you buy is impervious to strong cleaning agents.

Is you lab furniture of a good quality? Quality is another important thing that you should bear in mind when thinking of laboratory furniture. First, the materials that are used in the furniture should be of high quality. In fact, you must make sure that the tabletops and shelves are flame and chemical resistant. You do not want your table to burn easily if chemicals or acids suddenly leaked from the beakers. Another thing that you should consider when it comes to quality is the finishing of the furniture. You want to ensure that every screw or nail used on the tables is in place and the hinges on the shelves are functioning properly.

Lastly, laboratory furniture should be affordable. In a time when everyone is feeling the financial pinch in their pocket book, you should be able to find furniture that is easy on the budget.

Safety is something that you should also keep in mind when buying laboratory furniture. In work places where experiments and tests are commonplace, you ought to always think about safety. For example, it might be better to choose tables and shelves that do not have corners because people inside the lab are always on the go and you do not want lab technicians or users to hurt themselves while going from one spot to another. As part of safety, you should also make sure that the furniture that you buy for your lab is easy to clean.

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