Steel Locker Buying Guide for Factories, Offices and Hospitals

The three main locker types

Personnel lockers are used by office staff, supervisors and technicians. They usually have fewer, larger compartments for bags, uniforms and personal items, sometimes with a shelf and coat hook.

Garments worker lockers are designed for factories with hundreds or thousands of operators. They have many small compartments in one body, so a changing room or corridor can store a bag and phone for every worker on a shift without taking much floor space.

Hospital dress lockers are placed in staff changing rooms for doctors, nurses and support staff, and sometimes in patient areas. They need to store uniforms and scrubs hygienically, often with ventilation and smooth, easily cleaned surfaces.

Safety Plus makes all three types, fabricated from mild steel or stainless steel.

Compartment configurations

To size an order:

1. Count workers per shift who need a locker, and decide whether lockers are shared between shifts.
2. Decide what each person must store, which sets the compartment size.
3. Measure the wall length available, then work out how many columns fit while keeping corridors and exits clear.
4. Allow a small reserve for new staff and damaged units.

Sheet thickness and gauge

Locker durability depends heavily on sheet thickness, especially on doors and hinges. Gauge numbers are often quoted, but they are easy to confuse, so ask for millimetres. Standard sheet steel gauges convert approximately as follows:

A lower gauge number means thicker steel. Check door, body and shelf thickness separately; some products use thin bodies with thicker doors or the other way round. Measure a sample with a calliper during evaluation. For comparison, Safety Plus's catalogue cabinet work uses 1.2–2.0 mm sheet; agree the locker thickness for your order in the quotation.

Ventilation and hygiene

Bangladesh's heat and humidity make ventilation important. Closed steel lockers holding damp uniforms, lunch boxes or shoes quickly develop odour and corrosion.

• Louvres or perforations on doors allow air movement. For food or wet items, ventilated doors are strongly recommended.
• Sloping tops stop people stacking bags and dust collecting on top, which is useful in hospitals and food areas.
• Legs or a plinth keep the base off a wet floor and allow floor washing underneath.
• Hospital and clean areas: smooth surfaces, minimal ledges and rounded edges make wiping easier. Stainless steel can be considered for wet or high-cleaning areas.
• Separate clean and soiled storage in hospital changing rooms where the infection control plan requires it.

Locks and key management

With hundreds of lockers, the lock system becomes an operational decision:

Number each door clearly, keep a register matching locker numbers to employees and plan what happens when someone leaves or loses a key.

Finish, installation and placement

Finish. Powder coating only lasts if the steel is prepared properly underneath. Safety Plus steel products are chemically de-rusted, zinc phosphate coated and finished with oven-baked powder paint, which helps the coating resist the scratching and humidity of daily use. Read more in powder coating and zinc phosphate.

Installation and placement.

• Fix tall lockers to the wall or to each other so they cannot tip when doors are pulled.
• Keep lockers out of escape routes and away from exit doors, fire hose cabinets and extinguisher positions.
• Leave enough room in front for doors to open fully while people pass.
• Group lockers by shift or department to reduce crowding at shift change.

Browse steel lockers, industrial furniture for benches and tables for changing rooms, and our RMG and textile page.

Mistakes to avoid and what to put in the quotation request

Common mistakes

• Buying on cabinet size alone. Two lockers with the same outer dimensions can have very different compartment sizes, door thickness and hinge design.
• Ignoring shift patterns. If two shifts share a changing room, you may need lockers for both shifts or a clear sharing rule, otherwise lockers run out within weeks.
• Unventilated doors for food or wet uniforms. Odour and corrosion follow quickly in a humid climate.
• Weak hinges and door edges. In high-use areas the door is the part that fails first; check hinge type, door return edges and how the door is stiffened.
• No plan for keys. Without a register and a spare-key routine, lockers end up forced open and damaged.
• Lockers in corridors that are escape routes. Even a few extra columns can narrow an exit path below what the fire safety design allows.

What to include in your request

A clear request lets every supplier price the same locker, which makes comparison fair. Send worker numbers, wall lengths and preferred compartment layout through request a quote.

Frequently asked questions