Laboratory Shoe Covers

The Importance of Cleanliness in Laboratories

In a laboratory environment, a place where scientific experiments, research, and even the manufacture of drugs and chemicals is conducted, cleanliness is of the utmost importance.

In many ways, the safety and operational efficiency of a laboratory depends on it.

Maintaining a clean and organized laboratory can prevent a number of foreign objects and variables from entering, including:

Dust
Splashes
Liquids
Bacteria
Certain pollutants
Static buildup

The introduction of these things can create a number of costly problems:

Contamination

Modern lab techniques and procedures require great precision. Disorganized and unclean labs can lead to cross-contamination of samples, for example, which can cause lost work.

Breakages, spills, accidents

Besides being a source of contamination, incidents like these often lead repair and replacement cost of expensive laboratory implements.

Inaccurate results

When performing lab tests and procedures, pinpoint accuracy is essential. Foreign particles, pollutants, and other variables can skew results and render certain samples void.

Money and time loss

Contamination, breakages and accidents—these are more than just dangerous work-stoppers. They cost businesses money and time. Slowed workflows and other inefficiencies lead to problems that take significant time and money to rectify.

What is a Laboratory Shoe Cover?

A laboratory shoe cover is a piece of disposable cloth or plastic that can be fitted over the bottom half of a shoe, boot, boot, or foot. These shoe covers have a variety of applications in laboratories and testing facilities of all types. Some lab shoe covers are even slip resistant and anti-static, helping reduce the risk of costly and dangerous accidents.

Example of a Laboratory Shoe Cover

The image below is an example of a modern laboratory shoe cover (SoleMate Automatic Shoe Cover pictured). It is applied automatically to the bottom of the shoe when visitors and employees enter the lab.

Where Laboratory Shoe Covers Are Commonly Used

There are a variety of applications for laboratory shoe covers. Here are a few common examples:

The Problem with Pullover Shoe Covers

Traditionally, laboratories have utilized pullover shoe covers, sometimes referred to as “blue booties.” Cloth shoe covers can be made of cloth or polyethylene. Despite their ubiquity, traditional pullover shoe covers have a number of disadvantages that can cost laboratories time and money.

Inefficient – Often require visitors and employees to bend down awkwardly, which is uncomfortable and takes valuable time (in a place where time-efficiency is vital).
Prone to tearing – One of the most common complaints about traditional pullover shoe covers. For visitors, it’s a time-wasting hassle, not to mention the cost of constantly replenishing the supply.
Wasteful – Most pullover shoe covers are disposable, but not recyclable. This means that these shoe covers are used once, then thrown in a garbage bin bound for the landfill.

Automatic Laboratory Shoe Covers Help Reduce Cost

Yes, maintaining cleanliness is an important way that laboratories of all kinds can help control cost. But inefficiencies in the products we use to maintain cleanliness can also be quite costly, especially in places with many daily visitors, like labs.

Traditional shoe covers are a good example.

Not only is it expensive to regularly reorder these shoe covers; but they require users to bend down or sit down to put them on manually. This is frustrating for visitors and, most importantly, it takes time.

Those extra seconds count!

Automatic shoe covers, on the other hand, reduce time and labor costs by automating the process completely. They make entering a laboratory more convenient: users just need to put their feet into the dispenser and let the machine wrap their shoes in biodegradable PVC film—automatically.

It’s an intelligent way to reduce operating costs in laboratory facilities that require covered shoes when entering.