Lab coats

[saba]

How do you guys get the students lab coats washed?
Ours have not been washed since covid and since becoming senior tech I have only just got somewhere with progress a year after asking.
They're currently being washed in the schools domestic washing machine which can take 6 lab coats per wash.
We have 8 labs with 60 lab coats in each one.
Surely it would be easier to get them washed in a industrial washing machine saving time and money?
Sometimes I wonder if I'm being stupid...

Also feels like a part time job currently having to keep up with the lab coat situation.
I simply don't have the time to be sending lab coats down and organising them.

 

[Carys]

We do ours in the PE washing machines. Once a year whether they need it or not ;-)

Curious: why do you need 60 lab coats per lab?

 

[Purple Cat]

Why don't the students take them home and have them washed with the school uniform?

 

[CovTech]

You're trying to wash 480 lab coats 6 at a time
Whoever suggested that was viable was extracting the urine

 

[saba]

We do ours in the PE washing machines. Once a year whether they need it or not ;-)

Curious: why do you need 60 lab coats per lab?

We have 30 small and 30 medium
They're separated in KS3 and KS4 boxes.

 

[saba]

Why don't the students take them home and have them washed with the school uniform?

Do they even wash their school uniform?

 

[saba]

You're trying to wash 480 lab coats 6 at a time
Whoever suggested that was viable was extracting the urine

Precisely. I could say many more things...

 

[CovTech]

Would it not be easier to pare it back to only have one set of 60 as lab coats are not recognised PPE anyway so never required, only preferential when doing something sticky/smelly/stainy

 

[saba]

Would it not be easier to pare it back to only have one set of 60 as lab coats are not recognised PPE anyway so never required, only preferential when doing something sticky/smelly/stainy

I am going to to do this once we've got them all washed. They need organising however like most things I need to do I simply don't have the time.
The students where the lab coats for all practical's that has been a rule here for a long time.

 

[Paul]

you should use a laundry service, it will be cheaper.

 

[Didgit]

I am going to to do this once we've got them all washed. They need organising however like most things I need to do I simply don't have the time.
The students where the lab coats for all practical's that has been a rule here for a long time.

Laundrette ? We (I) used to every year , though with covid, they have their own (& s.specs, though we do have a set in each lab, all marked with SCIENCE !), so the old ones are gradually being given away for Pupil Premium cases. I don't miss the hassle !!!

 

[Paul]

I don't miss the hassle !!!

mine are still bagged up.

 

[Fallout_Girl]

We get ours collected by a laundry service. We only send them once a year as they're only used a few times for A level lessons.
There's no way I'd be having them in the labs and having to sort them out, I've got much better things to do with my time.

 

[tp73]

ours have their own lab coats and presumably wash their own

 

[karen b]

We get ours collected by a laundry service. We only send them once a year as they're only used a few times for A level lessons.
There's no way I'd be having them in the labs and having to sort them out, I've got much better things to do with my time.

Lab coats are used a bit more than only A level here. We also use a laundry service to get them washed. All coats go in the summer and we send random ones along with ours during term time.

Each lab had maybe 25 coats

 

[Peter Dale]

I quickly washed my hands of that responsibility. They're in the teaching labs, therefore they're the teacher's responsibility, like everything else that goes on in the lab once it's left me.

 

[saba]

you should use a laundry service, it will be cheaper.

That's what I said, nobody listens to us techs...

 

[saba]

Laundrette ? We (I) used to every year , though with covid, they have their own (& s.specs, though we do have a set in each lab, all marked with SCIENCE !), so the old ones are gradually being given away for Pupil Premium cases. I don't miss the hassle !!!I

I said this too but I'm not listened to so there's not much I can do

 

[saba]

ours have their own lab coats and presumably wash their own

Responsible !

 

[saba]

I quickly washed my hands of that responsibility. They're in the teaching labs, therefore they're the teacher's responsibility, like everything else that goes on in the lab once it's left me.

I should ask for a pay rise...