Hospital Bulk Storage Racks and Steel Shelving

Steel or wire, open or closed

Two decisions decide most of the specification, and both are about what is going on the shelf.

Steel or wire. The manufacturer describes these steel shelving systems as designed for storage of small parts and equipment that might otherwise fall through standard wire shelves, with a dual layer construction and a double hemmed perimeter, and publishes a 400 pound load capacity per shelf with a smooth powder coat finish. Wire, covered on the healthcare shelving page, is the better answer where air movement and visibility matter more than a solid surface.

Open or closed. Open units are cheaper, lighter and reachable from every side. Closed units add a back panel and two side panels; the manufacturer states that closed shelving provides extra protection from dirt and dust, creates separation between areas and prevents product from falling off the sides or back of the unit. In a store room that shares a wall with a corridor, that last point is usually what decides it.

Published heights are 39 and 75 inches. The 39 inch unit is a bench-height run you can see across; the 75 inch unit is the workhorse for bulk.

Published units and sizes

A representative slice of the published range, with the figures from the product pages we loaded. The full published list runs to dozens of combinations of height, shelf size, shelf count and gauge; we build the exact schedule for your room on the quote.

The IRONMAN clip shelving family is published in 18 and 20 gauge, four heights and fifteen shelf sizes. An open starter kit is published as four offset posts punched on 1 inch centres, one pair of back sway braces, two pairs of side sway braces and the selected number of shelves with hardware; the closed starter unit swaps the braces for one back panel and two side panels. Add-on kits share posts with the unit beside them, so a run costs less per linear foot than a row of separate units.

Open steel unitReachable from every side, lighter and cheaper. The default for a store room that is not against a corridor.

Shelf bin unitThe same shelving supplied with hopper front bins; published in six bin colours.

Sizing a bulk store

If the store room is full, the High-Density Storage Calculator and the space savings guide show what putting the same shelving on track would do to the run count, with the arithmetic shown.

Where bulk shelving earns its place

The usual homes are the central stores and receiving dock, the plant operations parts room, filter and lamp stores, the linen room, groundskeeping and transport stores, and the disaster or surge stock that has to be somewhere. Where the same room also holds consumables for clinical areas, keep those on their own labelled run and give it an owner – shared bulk storage without an owner is how a store room stops working.

• Facilities and support areas — the department workflow page for stores, plant operations and linen.
• Central supply — clinical bulk stock, par levels and restock routes.
• New construction and expansion — sizing stores properly in the drawings.

Related pages

• Facilities storage — the parent hub: every support-area storage family.
• Hospital maintenance storage — bins, louvered racks and rail carts for the shop.
• Hospital work benches and workstations — the benches beside the shelving.
• Healthcare shelving — wire and polymer shelving for clinical rooms.

When the room runs out

• High-density storage — the hub for track and mobile systems.
• Sliding track systems — floor track under the shelving you already own.
• Overhead track shelving — rail-hung units with a clear floor underneath.

Hospital bulk storage FAQ