Two dimensions matter on a changing room bench: the height, which should match a chair at about 45 cm, and the length, at 45 cm for each person sitting down. TwinThink steel benches are 45 cm high and 32 cm deep and come in two lengths: 90 cm, which seats two, and 150 cm, which seats three. The Workplace Regulations 1992 require seating in staff changing rooms but say nothing about how many seats or what size; this guide gives the count we use and where to put the benches.
What size is a steel changing room bench?
| 90 cm bench | 150 cm bench | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 90 cm | 150 cm |
| Depth | 32 cm | 32 cm |
| Height | 45 cm | 45 cm |
| People seated at once | 2 | 3 |
Both have a metal frame and a painted sheet-steel seat with a smooth surface, and both come in grey, white, black and black and white, the same colours as the lockers. The product sheet for the 150 cm bench specifies a four-slat seat, a lower level for shoes and adjustable feet to level it on an uneven floor.
At 45 cm high you sit down and get up as you would from a chair, and your foot is within reach to tie a lace. Three people fit on the 90 cm bench if they squeeze up, but with bags on the floor and two doors open in front, two is the realistic number. The 32 cm depth is what the bench takes out of the aisle, and it counts when you decide where it goes.
What do the regulations say about changing room benches?
Regulation 24(2) of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 says changing facilities are not suitable unless they are "easily accessible, of sufficient capacity and provided with seating". Regulation 23 covers the accommodation for clothing. Neither gives a size or a number of seats per worker, and HSE's Approved Code of Practice (L24, paragraph 221) goes no further than "adequate seating".
Germany does put a figure on it, and it is the benchmark we use: its technical rule ASR A4.1 (section 7.4, paragraph 1) requires at least one seat for every four employees using the changing room at the same time. It does not bind employers in the UK, but it turns "sufficient capacity" into a number.
The Regulations cover people at work. They apply to the staff changing room at a gym or a school, not to the one used by members or pupils. There, use decides: nobody puts their trainers on standing up, bag in hand, without ending up leaning on a locker.
How many benches do you need?
Count the people who change at the same time, not the whole workforce, and allow one place on a bench for every four. That way a 90 cm bench serves 8 people in the changing room at once and a 150 cm bench serves 12. With the real sizes of the lockers:
| Changing room | Changing at once | Places | Benches | Lockers and wall length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staff room, 12 people arriving at the same time | 12 | 3 | 1 of 150 cm or 2 of 90 cm | 2 six-door lockers, 1.94 m |
| Workshop, 16 operatives in overalls and boots on a single shift | 16 | 4 | 2 of 90 cm | 8 two-door lockers, 5.2 m |
| Warehouse, 40 operatives on two shifts of 20 that overlap at changeover | 40 | 10 | 5 of 90 cm or 4 of 150 cm | 7 six-door lockers, 6.8 m |
| Gym at peak time: 70 members with a locker in use, 24 changing at once | 24 | 6 | 3 of 90 cm or 2 of 150 cm | 12 six-door lockers, 11.6 m |
At a shift changeover, with everyone changing in the same ten minutes, count them all. If arrivals are staggered, count only the people there at the peak. Check too that the benches fit in front of the row: in the warehouse example, five 90 cm benches take up 4.5 m against 6.8 m of lockers. To work out how many lockers you need, use the locker calculator; the benches come from this count. For lockers, you add up every shift if the shifts overlap at handover or anyone leaves clothing inside between shifts, as we explain in our guide to lockers per worker.
Where should the bench go?
In front of the lockers and parallel to them, with room for someone seated to have the doors open in front of them and for someone else to pass behind. The doors are 28 cm wide and open into the aisle, the bench is 32 cm deep and a seated person takes up another 40 cm with their knees. We recommend 1.2 m from the front of the lockers to the outer edge of the bench, and a clear walkway of 1 m behind it if there is another row of lockers or people passing through.
In a large changing room, two facing rows of lockers with the benches between them make the best use of the space: each bench serves both rows and bags stay out of the walkway. On the same count, leave about 2.1 m between the fronts of the two rows. For example, 20 two-door lockers split into two rows of 6.5 m.
How much space does the changing room need?
The Workplace Regulations 1992 give no floor area. Regulation 24(2) asks for changing facilities "of sufficient capacity" and leaves it there. Germany puts a number on this too: ASR A4.1, section 7.3, requires 0.5 m² of free space to move in for each person changing at the same time, with walkways on top. It sets no minimum size for the changing room as a whole, so you add it up.
For the workshop in the table, with 16 operatives changing at once, our sum looks like this:
- Space to move: 16 × 0.5 m² = 8 m².
- Furniture: the 8 two-door lockers take up 5.2 × 0.40 m, about 2.1 m², and the two 90 cm benches 0.6 m².
- A 1 m walkway behind the bench, along the row: 5.2 m².
That comes to about 16 m², a room of 5.2 × 3.1 m. The benches fit with room to spare: 1.8 m of bench in front of 5.2 m of lockers. The layout in the previous section (40 cm of locker, 1.2 m to the edge of the bench and a 1 m walkway) needs 2.6 m of depth and 13.5 m². To leave 0.5 m² per person, it falls half a metre short in depth.
Does it have to be fixed to the floor?
The Regulations say nothing about fixing seats down. The bench is not anchored to the floor, so you can move it aside to mop underneath and, if the changing room is reorganised, move it without drilling. In a company or school changing room used in an orderly way, that is the practical choice. If it is an unsupervised public changing room, where anything loose ends up somewhere else, and you want the bench bolted to the floor, ask us on WhatsApp (+34 614 39 49 16) before you buy and we will reply straight away.
Cleaning and damp
The seat has a smooth surface and wipes clean with a cloth. In very damp changing rooms, such as at a swimming pool, put it in the dry area, away from the shower exit, and dry the floor every day.
Matching the lockers
With the bench in the same colour as the lockers, the row looks uniform. A different colour marks out zones: black benches with grey lockers for the staff changing room and grey ones for the members', for example. Benches arrive in 2-3 working days from our UK warehouse. Which locker suits what you need to store is covered in 2, 4, 6 or 12-door locker: which to choose.
Checklist
- People changing at once: divide by four for the number of places. Each 90 cm bench gives two and each 150 cm bench, three.
- Total bench length: it has to fit in front of the row of lockers.
- Space: 1.2 m from the lockers to the outer edge of the bench, plus a 1 m walkway behind it if there is another row.
- Floor: a free-standing bench where use is orderly; if you want it bolted down, ask us first.
- Damp: in the dry area, never at the shower exit.
Once the lockers are counted and the benches added, ask for a quote for your changing room and you will usually have it the same working day; if you are buying for a business, give your VAT number and the invoice is made out to the company. What else the Regulations require of a staff changing room is covered in lockers in the staff changing room: what the Workplace Regulations 1992 require.
Sources: Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/3004), regulations 23 and 24, as amended by SI 2002/2174, on legislation.gov.uk; HSE, L24 Approved Code of Practice, paragraph 221. Northern Ireland has its own Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993; the same seating wording was added to its regulation 24(2) by SR 2003/423. German benchmark: ASR A4.1 "Sanitärräume", sections 7.3 and 7.4(1), published by BAuA. This guide is not legal advice; before an inspection, check the current text and ask your health and safety adviser.