How to make the lockers of the locker room in accordance with the law

Let's find out how to manage the lockers in asl lockers.

An employer must provide a suitable environment for the changing room of his employees and that it is equipped with lockers, which comply with the law, to ensure the best hygiene and safety in the workplace. This means that there must be regulations for the use of changing rooms and lockers with sufficient dimensions for the employee. Let's see together how to manage the company locker room regulations in order to comply with the regulations.

Complete regulations Legislative Decree 81/08

A good starting point are the legal provisions governing the management of lockers in company changing rooms, in particular the "Consolidated Law on Safety in the Workplace" (Legislative Decree 81/2008 and subsequent additions), which has a section dedicated to changing rooms:

ANNEX IV - Workplace requirements

1. WORKING ENVIRONMENTS

1.12. Dressing rooms and wardrobes

1.12.1. Specially designated locker rooms must be made available to workers when they have to wear specific work clothes and when for health or decency reasons they cannot be asked to change in other rooms.

1.12.2. Locker rooms must be separated between the two sexes and suitably furnished. In companies with up to five employees the changing room may be unique for both sexes;

in this case, the rooms used for this purpose shall be used by staff of both sexes, according to appropriate pre-established and agreed shifts within working hours.

1.12.3. Locker room rooms shall have sufficient capacity, be as close as possible to work areas ventilated, illuminated, well protected from the weather, heated during the cold season and fitted with seats.

1.12.4. Locker rooms must be equipped to allow each worker to lock their clothing during working time.

1.12.5. If workers carry out activities that are dirty, dusty, with the development of fumes or vapours containing oily or encrusting substances in suspension, as well as in those where poisonous, corrosive or infectious or otherwise dangerous substances are used, lockers for work clothing must be separated from lockers for private clothing.

1.12.6. If point 1.12.1. does not apply, each worker must be provided with the equipment referred to in point 1.12.4. in order to be able to store his or her clothing.

The regulations lay down maximum attention to what must be the characteristics of changing rooms, which must not be too small or lacking in light or air exchange. In addition to the size of the changing room area (which depends on the number of workers), the need to divide the changing rooms according to the sex of the workers (except for very small companies) must also be considered.

What are the dimensions of a locker to be in compliance with the law?

A first reading of the legislation is already useful to answer many of the most common questions about lockers in changing rooms: in particular, there is no indication of the standard dimensions to be respected, while lockers are expected to be large enough to allow workers to lock their clothes in them during working hours. Obviously, the lockers must also be fitted with a padlock or other locking system to guarantee the privacy of the worker.

Which lockers should I use, with or without a padlock?

The choice not to determine precisely the type of lockers to be used leaves the employer a good degree of autonomy in choosing the locker model for his company: in this way it is possible to choose the most suitable model taking into account the characteristics of the locker room and the workers' needs.

In case the activity carried out by the workers leads to get dirty or come into contact with potentially dangerous substances, it becomes necessary to prepare the lockers in "double copy": in other words, the clean dirty locker must be equipped with a special partition that allows to separate work clothes from personal ones, to avoid contamination (or it is possible to provide two separate lockers), such as the Olive Wardrobe.

As far as the site lockers are concerned, they must also follow the indications of the regulations, therefore they must have a divider for personal and work clothes and be equipped with a padlock or other closure system.

Can the employer open the lockers?

We have said that the worker's privacy must be protected, but it is always possible for the worker to open and check the lockers: this operation is not equivalent to a personal check (which must be arranged by agreement with the trade unions and following a specific procedure), because it is always a workplace, even if it is made available exclusively to the worker, by means of the company locker assignment letter.