Urgent help Required- Australian Standards for lab floors

[rae]

Could someone please direct me to the Australian standard regarding the requirements for floor coverings on Lab floors?

We have a lab that has timber parquetry on the floor. Most of the finish( varnish) has worn away so it is virtually bare timber. We are having a "discussion" with the business manager regarding recovering with nonslip vinyl. The flooring man whom quoted on the floor said the timber obviously does not meet Asutralian standards for Labs, I need information to backup our point of view as the business manager does not believe the floor has a problem!!

Lorrae

[DavidPeterson]

You could try:

AS/NZS 2243.1:2005
Safety in laboratories - Planning and operational aspects

or

AS 2243:2006 Safety in Laboratories

[rae]

Ok I will try these. Now does anyone have a copy of said standards. Do you actually need to buy them or is there a website that I can access?

[DavidPeterson]

I don't have copy, just found the info online when I saw your post. Best I could see is that you need to buy them (and they aren't cheap).

[JudyM]

Last time I looked at buying Standards they were hundreds of dollars each. :O
Perhaps you could contact Workcover I'm sure they would have some information that would be useful.

I can't believe I've just posted 3 times in about 3 minutes. Someone please tell me to shut up!!

[rae]

I've managed to find the relevant standards and they are abot $130 each!!
I found this useful document though which I thought was very interesting.
http://www.ltav.org.au/labcon2003_OHS_L ... n_2002.pdf

Thanks Lorrae

[RosalieM]

Haha JudyM! No one will tell you to shut up!! Keep it up!

[DavidPeterson]

I found this useful document though which I thought was very interesting.
http://www.ltav.org.au/labcon2003_OHS_L ... n_2002.pdf

I definitely found this interesting, especially the section on Classroom Configurations (pp26-30).

I have 6 labs, 5 of which are arranged as on p 28 and 1 arranged ass on p 29.

My issue is that we don't meet AS2982.1.2.7.9 (c) requiring 1350mm between each workbench AND 1000mm between writing desks and work benches - we are only 1200mm between workbenches and from desks to workbench less 800mm.

What configurations do others have? Do they meet the standards? Is this a legislated mandatory standard or voluntary?

I'd love to be able to shut the labs down and get them rebuilt so that they meet the standard!