Are Your School’s Lockers Ready for Back to School?

,

Year after year, school lockers take quite a beating: slamming doors, the weight of textbooks and supplies, even graffiti and rust—a lot can lead to locker breakdown. That’s why it’s so important to inspect lockers at the beginning of each school year to ensure that they’re safe and in good condition for the next wave of students.

That process begins with a back-to-school locker assessment completed by your school’s maintenance team or other faculty members.

School Locker Assessment Plan

It’s a good idea for you or your maintenance team to do a complete walk-through of the school before officially opening doors to new students. Be sure to inspect the lockers carefully, checking for any signs of damage or neglect. It might be helpful to create a map so you can mark off any lockers that need further attention.

locker replacement checklist

Here’s what to look for:

  • Any signs of rust: Rust can be extremely dangerous when left untreated. Not only does it compromise the security of the locker, but it can also create sharp edges that could spread tetanus if a student accidently gets cut.
  • Graffiti: One thing that leads to the occurrence of more graffiti is actually the presence of graffiti itself. So be sure to cover or remove any graffiti as soon as possible. This will also help to improve the overall perception of your school’s quality and security.
  • Dents: A dented locker isn’t just an eyesore; it can also affect the locker’s ability to keep students’ belongings safe, especially if the dent allows someone to slip a hand inside the locker without needing to open the lock. Replace dented or damaged lockers immediately.

While many schools will find that replacing lockers is the best option, you’ll want to consider the material your new lockers are made of. That’s because traditional metal lockers, for example, are particularly prone to rust, graffiti, and other types of damage. Meanwhile, materials like high-density polyethylene (HDPE) naturally resist such damage.

HDPE as an Alternative Locker Material

In 2011, Danville Middle School was hit by devastating flood waters brought on by Tropical Storm Lee. The Pennsylvania school was submerged in up to 8 feet of dirty, polluted water, which damaged everything from classrooms to the library and even the district’s computer and telephone networks.

But some of the worst damage was to the school’s lockers, which were exposed to bacteria from the contaminated waters and began to rust.

When replacing the lockers, school officials decided to go with HDPE lockers for several reasons, including that HDPE is naturally resistant to bacteria, which now helps the school maintain a cleaner and healthier learning environment, and that the HDPE plastic is naturally resistant to rust (as well as dents and graffiti).

Which Lockers Are Best for Your School?

While every school is a little bit different, they all have the same goal: to provide students with a safe environment to learn and grow. Choosing the right materials for your facility can be just as important as the books and curriculums you choose. So before the start of the new school year, be sure to inspect the condition of your school’s lockers and ensure that they’re ready to serve your students.

Want to learn more about when to replace your lockers? Download this free Locker Replacement Checklist. In addition to walking you through the inspection process, this checklist includes helpful information about how to determine if your lockers need to be replaced or if they can be repaired at a lower cost.

How to Reduce Locker Room Theft

Whether you’re at the gym, school, or your place of employment, locker room lockers are a convenient way to keep your belongings safe. However, when thieves target those locker rooms, it puts your personal property at risk.

Below are ways that you can reduce locker room theft whether you’re a member using the locker room or a facility manager.

How Can Members Reduce Locker Room Theft?

While lots of people use lockers in their daily lives – workers, students, athletes – we’ll use the term member to refer to anyone who uses a locker. For members to reduce locker room theft, there are certain precautions that should be taken.

  • Leave valuables at home. If possible, don’t store valuables in your locker. Thieves who continuously come up empty handed when breaking into lockers are likely to turn their attention somewhere else. However, we understand that sometimes it’s unavoidable to store valuables inside the locker.
  • Invest in a quality lock. A cheap lock that’s easily cut, picked, or otherwise compromised can be tempting to thieves looking for an easy target. Instead, purchase a heavy-duty lock from a quality manufacturer.
  • Choose a locker in a visible area. Although the entire locker room should feel like a safe place, based on its design, there may be some areas that are more prone to criminal activity. The back corners, for example, could provide ample coverage for a thief to feel concealed enough to attempt breaking into a locker. Chose a locker that’s in the open and next to other lockers in use.

How Can Managers Reduce Locker Room Theft?

As helpful as it is to have your members working to reduce locker room theft, their efforts may be futile if not backed up by the facility administrators.

As the managers of a locker room or a building which houses a locker room, it’s your responsibility to take actionable steps toward deterring theft. Here’s what you can do:

  • Know who’s in your facility. One way to do this is by requiring membership or photo ID cards. This gives you a way to monitor who’s in the building when the thefts occur. You can also require nonmembers to provide identification and sign in/out.
  • Monitor the locker room areas. If you can, keep a staff member nearby the locker room entrance to monitor people coming in and out. Train staff members on how to politely approach a suspicious person. Conduct walkthroughs at irregular times throughout the day.
  • Keep lockers in good condition. Damaged lockers can be easily broken into. Not to mention, a locker room that’s in poor condition can send a message to would-be criminals that building officials don’t care. If your lockers need repairs, consider replacing them with highly durable HDPE lockers.

In addition to being resistant to rust and dents, lockers made from HDPE plastic lockers are extremely strong and effective at deterring would-be thieves.

Download our FREE Locker Replacement Checklist, which helps facility managers and administrators ensure that the condition of your lockers are safe and satisfactory.

Components to Consider When Designing College Campus Locker Rooms

,

locker

 

Designing a college campus locker room is no easy task. There are a lot of things to consider, like how to circulate foot traffic through the space and what kind of materials to use for the lockers, vanities, and stalls. Making sure to run through these concepts during the design phase will help to ensure a well-planned and high-functioning locker room that students will love.

Now let’s take a closer look at some of the major components to consider when designing a locker room.

school locker room

Locker Room Amenities

Although most people think of lockers and showers when picturing locker rooms, and for good reason, they aren’t the only amenities you want to consider. For instance, dry and wet vanities are an important component of any well-built locker room. These vanities provide students an ideal place to shave or apply makeup.

Traffic Circulation

It’s not enough to design a locker room with showers, bathrooms, and changing space. The flow of the locker room should make sense and inhibit a good flow of traffic. The main path should have enough room for two people to pass each other, and access to dry areas from wet areas should be somewhat direct and close while still providing an adequate level of privacy.

Lockers

Determining how many lockers to have inside your locker room depends on a variety of factors. For one, how many people can your facility accommodate? The next thing to consider is the number of students you reasonably expect to be using the lockers. A result of busy student life may find more students arriving dressed to work out and then returning home to change and shower.

In the end, it will be a mixture of user necessity and space availability that will determine how many lockers to provide.

Showers

Most designers know that the shower area should be tiled to provide a moisture-resistant surface, but not just any type of tiles will do. You need to make sure that they have a proper slip-resistant texture to prevent accidental falls. Smaller tiles, about one square inch or less, are usually best.

For the shower stalls themselves, you might consider using a highly durable plastic that’s resistant to mildew and rust.

Choosing the Right Materials

There are plenty of options when it comes to materials for your college campus locker rooms. However, given its often-humid nature, certain materials fare better than others. For example, wood can be extremely prone to mold, mildew, and rotting when exposed to moisture, making it a poor choice for shower stalls or wet vanities.

Another popular option because of its durability is metal. However, metal is prone to rusting and denting, which means you’ll need to replace it later on down the road.

HDPE plastic, on the other hand, is highly durable and resistant to virtually all locker room hazards. In fact, HDPE has been tested to resist rust, scratches, dents, mildew, corrosion, and even graffiti.

To learn more about choosing the right material for your college campus locker room, download the free eBook 7 Crucial Mistakes Architects Make When Choosing Bathroom Partitions or Locker Materials.

Unknowingly Hazardous Items at Your Child’s School

, , ,

locker

Although teachers, administrators, and staff do their best to make American schools a safe place for children to learn and play, there are some dangers that simply can’t be avoided. What’s even more precarious is that many of these dangers seem fairly innocent, playing a mundane role in the daily lives of school children.

In an article published by HealthGrove, experts used data from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to evaluate the most dangerous items involved in school-related injuries reported between 1997 and 2014. The resulting list of 20 items included some unsurprising offenders, such as scissors (No. 19) and paint (No. 17). However, at No. 8 on the list, an average of 7,558 injuries each year involved something much more commonplace. The culprit: ordinary lockers.

Lockers: A Hidden Danger to Children?

Although many people might have fond memories of their high school locker, hanging pictures of their favorite bands or celebrity crushes, a surprising number of injuries each year involve these convenient hallway hideaways. In addition to impact injuries, metal lockers pose another serious threat: tetanus. Even in areas not subject to excessive moisture, rust can form on metal lockers and cause additional damage as the rust spreads.

Slowly, the rust will deteriorate the locker, leaving behind sharp edges that can easily cut or injure a student. This is one reason why many schools are transitioning away from traditional metal lockers and looking toward newer and less harmful materials. One possible answer lies in HDPE solid plastics.

A New Kind of Locker for Your Child’s School

Unlike metal lockers, lockers made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) are resistant to rust and corrosion. These non-porous lockers are also resistant to odors, dents, mildew, and even graffiti, making them not only safe but cost-effective for school officials. Lower maintenance costs mean those budget dollars could go toward programming or purchasing school supplies.

In addition to possibly reducing the number of injuries and helping schools save on their yearly budget, HDPE lockers are quieter than metal lockers, reducing noise in the hallways between or during classes. And some lockers made from this durable material are GREENGUARD Gold Certified, making them safe for the environment.

What Is GREENGUARD Certification?

GREENGUARD Certification means that the certified product has met some of the highest standards for low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air indoors. According to the GREENGUARD website, the “Gold standard includes health based criteria for additional chemicals and also requires lower total VOC emissions levels to ensure that products are acceptable for use in environments such as schools and healthcare facilities.”

All of the brands produced by Scranton Products, including their HDPE lockers, are GREENGUARD Gold Certified. This certification increases the safety level of these lockers as a terrific replacement for traditional metal lockers found in many schools.

Contact Scranton Products for more information about their building solutions.

Using Products with Purpose in the Dallas School System Redesign

, ,

Scranton Products provides bathroom partitions, lockers, showers and dressing compartments and vanities for facilities looking for visually appealing, durable, long-lasting, sustainable products. They provide the best products in the industry, utilizing High Density Polyethylene plastic, or HDPE, for high performance that offers improvements to a facility’s air quality and reduces environmental impact. When the Dallas school system was in need of a redesign in 2008, the citizens approved a $1.35 billion bond program to reshape the school district through 61 different products. Dated facilities were replaced with state of the art environments including elementary, middle and high schools across the city.

Scranton Products Used in Redesign

Among the many products selected specifically to meet the needs of the Dallas school system was the broad-based installation of bathroom partitions from Scranton Products, (This sentence doesn’t make any sense which according to were among the products preferred by Dallas ISD’s maintenance department. Available in an assortment of colors and styles, Dallas’ partition of choice was Hiny Hiders Paisley Color with a EX Texture, a black bespectacled with white dots with a ridged texture. In addition to their appealing look and feel, the Scranton Products partitions also met numerous other criteria cited by the city for its new school bathrooms. This included absorbing all the forms of punishment that thousands of students, teachers and parents could deliver every day for the foreseeable future. These benefits include the ability to never rust or delaminate as well as resist dents, scratches, graffiti, corrosion, mildew and moisture. They are also fully power-washable and can be firmly installed in three configurations; floor mounted overhead-braced, ceiling-hung or floor-to-ceiling.

sp_cta_hinyhiders-dallascountyschools

The Preferred Choice

Scranton Products were a top choice for the redesign of Dallas’ school system. Architect Jason Mellard commented on the choice to selected Scranton Products. “Durability was certainly an important consideration when we planned this project. It really must be able to stand up to just about anything, while constantly dealing with relentless wear and tear. That’s why the Scranton Products’ partitions were chosen by the district for installation throughout the school system. They are exceptionally tough and with the proper support are virtually impossible to rip from the floors. Plus, they just look nice. Their black finish with textured dots provided an attractive complement to our overall design and color scheme.”

 

Products for a Sustainable Environment

Scranton Products are created with HDPE plastic, which allows facilities to support a healthier environment. These products reduce environmental impact and offer improvements to the indoor air quality of your facility. They’re also Greenguard Gold certified, a certification that offers strict criteria and considers safety factors that account for sensitive people such as children and the elderly. If you’re interested in reducing your footprint and creating a healthy environment with clean air, click here to find out where to buy Scranton Products.

Why You Need to Care about ASTM Standards

, , ,

When you’re purchasing products for your facility, you want to make sure they’re long-lasting and high-quality. You also want to make sure they’re safe for use and they perform the way they’re supposed to. The products in your facility are investments and it’s crucial that they are the deliverables you’re in need of. ASTM (The American Society for Testing and Materials) will help you determine whether your products adhere to these standards.

What are ASTM Standards?

ASTM is recognized globally as a leader in development and delivery of voluntary consensus standards. Over 12,000 ASTM standards are used all over the world to improve product quality, enhance health and safety, strengthen market access and trade, and to let customers know they can count on products. ASTM serves many industries, such as metals, construction, petroleum, consumer products and more. Standards have been developed in accordance with the guiding principles of the World Trade Organization. These standards are used by individuals, companies and institutions globally. Government regulators cite standards in laws, regulations and codes.

How is an ASTM standard developed?

A member of an ASTM technical committee will identify a need to develop a standard. Group members will prepare a draft standard and it is then reviewed by its parent subcommittee.

Why is this important?

When individuals, companies, or institutions have products that adhere to ASTM standards, their products are proven to be reliable. Many tests are performed to find out vital information about the products and what they have to offer consumers. Consumers can rest assured knowing that the products they are purchasing will be effective and perform the way they expect it to. They also know that the standards make these products safe for use so that they’re not in danger. These standards also allow suppliers to know that their products are top notch and they’re offering the best quality to their customers.

Do Scranton Products adhere to ASTM standards?

Scranton Products are sustainable, durable and microbial resistance. HDPE plastic exhibited no microbial growth during a 21-day testing period which was conducted in accordance with ASTM D3293. While HDPE was microbial free, Phenolic had mold and mildew growth. The durability of Scranton Products also adheres to ASTM standards. The abrasion resistance of various bathroom partition materials was measured in accordance with ASTM G195, which resulted in HDPE having the best abrasion resistance with the lowest surface wear. Based on graffiti resistance, Scranton Products adheres to ASTM standards. Testing was conducted in accordance with ASTM D6578 which provides a standard set of conditions that can be used to evaluate the graffiti resistance of a surface. Seven marking agents and six cleaning products were used in the evaluation to show that HDPE is graffiti resistant utilizing no specialized maintenance procedure or additional coating. ASTM standards go a long way in proving how valuable a product is.

Click here to find out where you can buy Scranton Products.


Sustainable Building Products

Leaving a Lasting Impression with Tufftec Lockers

,

locker

Tufftec Lockers creates tough, durable, aesthetically pleasing lockers and benches for your facility that will hold up against wear and tear, odors, and graffiti. The groundbreaking High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) material that these lockers are made of makes them resistant to even the harshest daily use. No matter what type of facility you’re running, you’ll benefit from all that Tufftec Lockers have to offer.

Find out more about why Tufftec Lockers are the most durable, cost-effective products in the industry.

Durability at Its Finest

Tufftec Lockers are engineered for strength and durability, with the HDPE plastic material holding up to daily use, while also remaining low maintenance. HDPE plastic material is resistant to bacteria, mold and mildew, which is crucial no matter what type of facility you’re running, but can make all the difference.

Maintenance for your Tufftec Lockers will be low, as HDPE plastic never needs painting, is scratch resistant, impermeable to moisture, graffiti resistant, power washable and steam cleanable. The years of everyday low maintenance will also save you a substantial amount. While metal lockers are the cheaper option initially, the cost of maintenance adds up overtime.

Customized for Your Facility

In addition to saving you money and looking beautiful in your facilities, there are also ways for you to customize your HDPE plastic lockers to make them your own. Tufftec Lockers provide you the ability to engrave your company or team logo.  The option to customize your Tufftec Lockers allows you to create an even greater aesthetic appeal rather than just having generic looking lockers.

Choose from Various Options

When it comes to durable, visually-appealing lockers, one size does not fit all facilities. That’s why Tufftec Lockers offers a variety of style options and accessories. These locker designs come in many different configurations so you can make the most of your space while also providing design options that are complementary to your architecture.

Choose from athletic lockers, emergency response lockers, industrial lockers, healthcare lockers, recreational lockers, cubbie lockers, education lockers and specialty lockers.

Style options include standard and Z-lockers, as well as open lockers without doors such as the athletic style, the utility style, and even cubbies.

The venting style is also important, as ventilation can serve a huge purpose depending on what type of facility you’re choosing for. Whether your facility calls for a small amount of ventilation, or a full lattice mesh side and top vent.

You can even choose what type of locker base, handle and fillers that you believe will work best for your facility. Also choose from various lock options, plastic benches, hooks and even ADA compliant conversion kits that are available with ADA plaques, adjustable shelves and clips.

Tufftec Lockers are “where solid plastic construction meets good looks.” Whatever you envision your facility to look like; you can achieve it with Tufftec Lockers.

To get a better understanding of HDPE lockers and all that they have to offer, click here to download our free eBook, The Ultimate Guide to HDPE Lockers. This guide will discuss the benefits of HDPE material and why these lockers are superior to other materials.

The Best Methods for Removing Graffiti from Lockers and Bathroom Walls

, ,

In schools or public facilities, bathroom walls and locker rooms are at a high risk of graffiti. While it’s difficult to catch vandalism in the act, one of the best things that a facility manager can do is develop an effective plan for removing the graffiti as quickly as possible once it shows up. But what’s the best method for removing graffiti from lockers and bathroom walls?

Scranton Products is here to give you some quick and easy tips to return your facilities to their pristine state after vandalism. Read on to learn the best methods for removing graffiti from lockers and bathroom walls.

Read more

School & Locker Room Locker Warranties

,

If you’re redesigning a locker room or school, you want to be sure that you’re getting top-level value lockers that are built to last and backed by a warranty that proves it. When you look at lockers from Scranton Products, you’ll see that we stand by our products and are confident that they’re built to last.

Scranton Products offers two types of lockers that are designed for a wide variety of uses. Whether for a gym, a school, or for your employees, you want to be sure that you’re making the best selection available.

One ways that you can see how Scranton Products’ lockers are your best option is by diving into the warranties that support them. Read on below to learn more. Read more

Can your Lockers be Durable and Still Look Good?

,

When it comes to installing new lockers, you have many choices as far as available materials. While metal lockers are believed to durable and reliable, their design lacks visual appeal. And while plastic lockers have a new-age design, people have the misconception that they aren’t as strong as metal lockers. So can lockers be durable and still look good?

Contrary to popular belief, you can have durable and good-looking lockers for your facility by choosing HDPE plastic lockers, such as Scranton Products’ Duralife lockers. Continue reading so you can learn just how Duralife lockers are superior to metal lockers in both looks and durability. Read more