To assist College of Engineering (CoE) labs in the supplying and maintaining lab coats for students, staff, and visitors, the CoE Safety has partnered with Cintas to provide lab coat laundry services. Access to clean and well-conditioned lab coats, in a variety of sizes, will be conducted through dispensing “vending” and collection machines located at two locations on the engineering campus. Utilized lab coats that have become soiled or no longer needed may be returned to collection containers, located next to dispensing machines, which will allow for Cintas to pick up, transport, launder, inspect, and place the lab coat back into service on a weekly basis.
The dispensing and collection points are in Engineering Hall (EH) – Hallway 2000J and Mechanical Engineering (ME) Building room 1272, shown below.
The following demonstrates how the system works with the distribution and collection of the lab coat using a WISCARD along with the garment life cycle:
The garments selected for the program are the standard white lab coat sizes (XS-4XL), and the blue flame resistant / chemical splash (FRCB) protection lab coat XS-4XL, shown below. The standard white lab coats will be distributed through the vending machines while blue coats will initially be distributed upon request through CoE safety representatives. Please contact CoE safety at coesafety@engr.wisc.edu to request blue lab coats.
The CoE Safety has budgeted for the dispensing / collection unit rentals and coats. Each research group will be invoiced for the number of lab coats utilized on a quarterly basis. Weekly cost of a standard white lab coat is 0.27-0.42 cents per week and blue (FRCB) coats are $1.99-$2.24 per week depending on the size of the coat being used.
Access to the lab coat program has be granted to all CoE personnel conducting research activities. Anyone not currently granted access will need to submit a request form to be approved and entered into the Cintas system. The request form can be found at https://labcards.engr.wisc.edu/labcoats/labcoat_request or by scanning the following QR code:
Please email coesafety@engr.wisc.edu with any questions related to the implementation and use of the lab coat system.