When a laboratory storeroom stops working well, the symptoms are usually easy to spot: staff searching for supplies, stock hidden behind other stock, or boxes taking over bench space. The cause can be less obvious. Buying more shelving may add capacity without making anything easier to find.
Use this guide during a walk through your own space. For each problem, look at what staff experience, what in the layout may be causing it, and what change is worth trying.
1. Staff spend time searching for supplies
Look for: repeated drawer opening, trips between rooms and questions about where items are kept. Try: give frequently used items one labelled location near their point of use. Observe whether staff can find them without assistance.
2. Inventory is hidden behind other stock
Look for: unopened or expired supplies discovered at the back of deep shelves. Try: review shelf depth, rotate stock according to your facility’s procedures, and arrange items so their labels and quantities can be checked easily.
3. Storage cannot keep up with changing work
Look for: new equipment or teaching activities forcing supplies onto spare surfaces. Try: identify which parts of the layout need adjustable shelves, drawers or modules so the arrangement can change with the work.
4. Every room follows a different system
Look for: similar supplies stored under different labels or in different container types across rooms. Try: agree on a consistent location and labelling logic for shared items, while allowing for genuine differences in use or handling requirements.
5. Staff cannot tell what is in a drawer or bin
Look for: people bending, moving containers or opening several units to confirm stock. Try: improve sight lines with readable labels, suitable container fronts and lighting that makes contents easy to identify.
6. Supplies are bought when they are already on site
Look for: duplicate products in different locations or unexpected surplus after a stocktake. Try: make the agreed storage location visible to the people who order and use the item, then set a clear check before reordering.
7. Benches and trolleys become overflow storage
Look for: supplies left in working areas because the designated store is full or awkward to use. Try: remove expired or unneeded stock according to policy, give active items clear homes and test whether the layout has enough room for normal fluctuations.
8. The room works at handover but deteriorates in use
Look for: an initial layout that cannot accommodate new supplies or shifts in workflow. Try: review likely changes before choosing fixed positions and schedule a follow-up once the team has used the room during normal operations.
9. One person has to keep the whole system working
Look for: one staff member maintaining private lists, labels or containers that everyone depends on. Try: capture what that person has learned, then make the locations, labels and replenishment process clear to the whole team.
10. Storage is assessed only by how much it holds
Look for: plans measured in shelf count without checking the routes people take to collect and return items. Try: assess retrieval time, visibility, reach and the ability to adjust the layout alongside capacity.
Find the cause shared by several problems
These ten symptoms often point back to a smaller set of design issues: stock cannot be seen, rooms follow different rules, the layout cannot change, or the system was planned without enough attention to everyday use. Start with the issue responsible for the most repeated interruptions.
A first pass can be simple. Walk the room at a busy time. Ask staff where they hesitate. Check for hidden and expired items. Improve labels and locations, then observe again. Larger layout changes will be easier to plan once you know which daily problems they need to solve.
Versatile Spaces designs adaptable storage for laboratories and specialist facilities. Explore Vellex® laboratory storage or plan your space to consider a layout that makes supplies easier to see, reach and manage.