Stainless Steel Packing Tables for Hospital Departments

What the manufacturer publishes

One family, four lengths, and two decisions to make: fixed feet or casters, and where the undershelf sits.

The published description is specific. The tables are 304 stainless steel, with a flat top work surface with hemmed edges and a lower flat bottom shelf that is adjustable from 3 to 27 inches high. The support legs are 1-5/8 inch diameter with a levelling foot, and the manufacturer states that a table can be converted to a mobile unit with a 3 inch conductive caster kit, all swivel with two brakes, sold separately.

The hemmed edge matters more than it sounds: it is the difference between a top you can wipe along and a top with an edge that collects. The adjustable undershelf matters because a bench with a shelf at a fixed height is either a storage shelf or legroom, and you rarely want to choose that at the factory.

All four published lengths are 24 inches deep and 34 inches to the top of the work surface, so a run of them lines up flush along a wall – which is how most packing rooms end up using them.

Published models and sizes

We publish an overall dimension only where the manufacturer’s own product page states one. For the 60 inch table the size is published in the series but the overall figure was not on the product page when this was written, so it is confirmed on the quote rather than guessed at here.

Solid surfacesA flat, closed surface is what you want where items are set down, wrapped or wiped.

Vented shelf panelsWhere air movement through a shelf is useful, a vented panel is the alternative to a solid one on the shelving nearby.

Levelling feet or castersLevelling feet on a bench that stays put; the published caster kit where the table has to move for cleaning or reconfiguration.

Setting bench height and length

• Height is fixed at a published 34 inches, so plan the task around it. That suits standing work with the hands at bench level. For seated work or for tasks that need the item higher, the answer is a different surface, not a modified table.
• Length follows the longest thing handled, plus setting-down room. A 36 inch table is a station; a 72 inch table is two stations, or one station with somewhere to stage.
• Set the undershelf last. Fit the table, put an operator in front of it, then set the shelf height – high for storage, low for legroom. It adjusts from a published 3 to 27 inches, so make the decision in the room rather than on paper.
• Keep the top empty. Anything permanently stored on a work surface is a sign the room needs shelving, bins or a cart, not a bigger table.
• Decide feet or casters per table. Mixed is normal: fixed benches for the main run, one mobile table for flexible work and cleaning access.
• Leave cleaning access. Levelling feet let a table sit flush and level, but leave enough gap behind a run for the floor and the wall to be cleaned.

Where they are used

Pack and prep roomsA run of tables along the wall, shelving above, carts pulled up beside them.

Beyond pack and prep, the same table is the receiving bench in central supply, the check-in surface in a linen or stores room, the staging bench in a pharmacy stores area and the bench in a scope reprocessing room. The published family is one product doing all of those jobs, which is why standardising on a single length or two makes ordering and spares simple.

• Sterile processing — the department workflow: rooms, routes and problems.
• Central supply — receiving, breakdown and the restock routes.
• Facilities and support areas — linen, stores and plant operations benches and storage.

Related pages

• Sterile processing storage — the parent hub for the department’s storage.
• Sterile wrap carts — the hang-bar cart that keeps the bench clear.
• Surgical instrument storage — baskets and shelving for sets and singles.
• Surgical case carts — how the finished work leaves the department.

Benches elsewhere in the building

• Hospital work benches and workstations — plant operations and facilities benches, bench racks and workstation carts.
• Healthcare shelving — the shelving that goes above and beside a bench run.
• Medical storage cabinets — closed storage where a bench needs security nearby.

Resources

• Healthcare storage solutions — the hub for the whole programme.
• Healthcare Storage Design Center — free planning tools and intake checklists.
• Shelving and bin configurator — size the shelving above the bench.
• Quantum Medical storage products — the manufacturer and its families.

Stainless steel packing table FAQ