Safe locker rooms - requirements

Locker rooms equipped with Malow furniture are safe, durable, and functional spaces tailored to the real needs of users – whether they are employees in an industrial facility, primary school pupils, or athletes in a sports changing room.

Our furniture complies with legal requirements, meets relevant standards, and is ready for intensive use. Read the text to learn about the legal requirements concerning employee locker rooms.

Regulations and locker rooms

When designing locker rooms, the applicable legal regulations impose specific technical and functional requirements that must be met to ensure safety, hygiene, and comfort for users. Depending on the type of facility – workplace, school, or sports hall – different provisions and standards apply.

A) Employee locker rooms

Legal basis:

  • Regulation of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy of 26 September 1997 on general occupational health and safety regulations (Journal of Laws 2003 No. 169, item 1650, as amended)

Depending on the type of work, environmental conditions, and the degree of soiling of work clothing, the employer must provide an appropriate locker room:

  • Locker rooms for personal and work clothing – the most common type of employee locker room. According to the latest standards, the locker room should be adapted to the type of work performed
  • Passage-type locker rooms – mandatory where harmful substances are present. Clean and dirty zones must be in separate rooms connected by an intermediate room equipped with washbasins and showers

Employee locker rooms must contain lockers that meet the following requirements:

  • Lockers must be individual – one compartment should be assigned to one employee. The required internal space depends on the nature of the work
  • Dimensions: current standards do not explicitly define the size of the entire locker or its compartment. The minimum height is 1.2 m. Malow lockers are available in a height of 1800 mm and various compartment widths.
  • Internal division: The locker must be divided into two sections: one for work clothing and one for personal clothing. If significant soiling occurs, two completely separate compartments must be provided
  • Locking mechanism: Lockers must be lockable – using a key, padlock, or other secure mechanism.
  • Ventilation: The locker should allow air circulation inside.
  • Additional fittings: hooks, shelves, and space for hanging clothes

MALOW furniture for employee locker rooms

In employee locker rooms, SUM W family lockers are the ideal solution. There are three basic SUM W MALOW wardrobe variants.

  • Sum 300 - single compartments 300 mm wide, with optional divider
  • Sum 400 - single compartments 400 mm wide with a built-in divider splitting the compartment in a 1:3 and 2:3 ratio
  • Sum WZD - two compartments for one user, separated by a fixed divider, with a shared lock

B) School locker rooms

Legal basis:

  • Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 25.03.2019 (Journal of Laws 2019 item 1060) – currently binding legislation regulating school equipment.

The school is obliged to provide pupils with:

„The possibility to store outer garments, footwear, and textbooks in a manner ensuring order, safety, and hygiene.”

Adaptation to the needs of children and young people, in particular:

  • Lockers should be adapted to the height of the students (e.g. younger children – lower lockers; older students – full-height lockers)
  • Lockers should be easy to clean – hence metal construction is recommended.

Functional requirements for lockers – although the law does not specify exact dimensions or fittings, practice and recommendations from the National Labour Inspectorate and the Ministry of Education indicate that:

  • Lockers should have a separate space for clothing and textbooks, such as a shelf or hanger
  • They should have ventilation openings – the locker should allow air to circulate inside
  • Lockers should be lockable – for safety and protection of personal belongings

Location and accessibility of locker rooms/lockers

  • Lockers can be located either in designated changing rooms or in school corridors – the most important factor is that students have constant access to them
  • In schools where there is no space for communal changing rooms, individual lockers can fully replace them, provided the above-mentioned principles are met

MALOW furniture for school locker rooms

MALOW furniture - the optimal choice for locker rooms

Malow lockers are comprehensive solutions that comply with health and safety regulations. They are certified, made of durable steel sheet, and spot-welded – just like cars – making them extremely strong and reliable. Available in 16 RAL colours, and thanks to zirconium conversion during surface preparation, the paint adheres even better.

A testament to Malow's highest quality and durability is the 10-year warranty..

Thanks to a wide range of models – SUM, SUS, SUL, WZD – we offer products tailored to every type of locker room. Additional equipment such as sloped tops, bench bases, shoe lockers, or various lock types (including combination, RFID, SMART) allows precise adjustment of lockers to user needs and the nature of the facility. Discover our social lockers in more detail!