Lab Cold Room Shelving

Spacesaver supports 6x increase in COVID-19 testing capacity.

November 2nd, 2020 - less than a minute read

The Challenge

Optimize Cold Storage Space in a Laboratory

This Los Angeles-area diagnostic laboratory conducts medical testing for hundreds of thousands of southern California residents. In response to an urgent need to process more COVID-19 tests, a new lab was constructed in only two months by building out 30,000 square feet of shelled space inside the existing 150,000-square-foot facility.

The existing lab was processing 7500 tests daily, and its capacity will increase by approximately 50,000 more tests per day when the addition is fully operational in early 2021.

The Solution

Lab Cold Room Shelving that Moves on Rails

To support all the supplies and materials required to maintain a six-fold increase in capacity, the lab needed three compact shelving systems from Spacesaver: one system for materials management and two lab cold room shelving systems for storing test kits in refrigerated rooms.

covid testing equipment storage solutions scaled

The Spacesaver high-density shelving systems in the refrigerated rooms feature aluminum tread flooring on a “false floor” that is easy to clean and will allow the system to be moved in the future if needed. To improve visibility into the specially treated wire shelving, staff opted for half-height end panels with clear plexiglass extending to full height. The plexiglass ensures that kits won’t fall off the ends while also allowing quick visual inspection.

Due to this project’s extremely tight deadlines, Spacesaver shipped the rails to the construction site while factory workers were still manufacturing the rest of the order. This allowed the local installation crew to keep pace with the lab’s rapid build-out.

The Result

Optimized Shelving Space in the Lab’s Refrigerated Rooms

The Spacesaver shelving on rails optimizes every cubic foot of space in the lab’s walk-in cold rooms. Staff can easily open and close aisles using hand cranks, and the system is clean and safe. Most importantly, area residents can get their COVID test results more quickly due to the lab’s increased capacity.