In short
Most hospitals do not have a problem buying personal protective equipment — they have a problem placing it. PPE sits in the central store, in a ward depot, sometimes in a carton in the nurses' station, but rarely exactly where staff make the decision to put it on. This guide shows how to define issuing points across a hospital, how to match equipment to each of them, and how SecuBox containers fit in as a storage layer.
A nurse enters an isolation room. Gloves are in the nurses' station — thirty metres down the corridor. Disposable gowns are in the depot at the far end of the ward. Masks are in a carton on a procedure trolley currently parked outside room 3. The real decision staff face in this layout is not "should I put on PPE", but "is it worth walking for it for this one task". Training cannot solve this. Placement can.
Why PPE organisation matters more than stock volume
The relationship is simple and consistently confirmed in clinical practice: the further away the protective equipment, the less often it is used. Every additional element between staff and PPE — metres of corridor, a locked cabinet, having to ask someone to issue from a depot — reduces usage frequency. This is not a matter of discipline but of work environment design.
The practical conclusion for a manager: increasing store volume does not improve compliance if the stock is not placed at decision points. A hospital can hold three months of glove stock and simultaneously record low usage rates during procedures requiring protection — because the gloves are in the store and the decision happens at the bedside.
The second dimension is cost. Stock scattered across open cartons on wards generates loss. Gloves taken several pairs at a time, masks soiled in a torn carton, gowns moved between rooms — all of it is a number in the budget, just an invisible one, because it is distributed.
Three types of issuing point in a hospital
Classification by function
- Entry point (ward / zone boundary). Where staff, visitors or consultants cross a zone boundary. Function: equip the person entering with a basic set. Traffic: high, uneven.
- Changing point (staff changing room). Where clothing changes to zone clothing, at the start and end of a shift. Function: complete changeover following the sequence. Traffic: concentrated in time windows.
- Procedure point (at the workstation). Procedure room, consulting room, bedside station, phlebotomy point. Function: PPE access at the moment of clinical decision-making. Traffic: continuous, distributed.
The distinction matters because each type requires a different equipment selection. An entry point needs high capacity and resistance to intensive use. A procedure point needs compactness and proximity. A changing point needs set completeness and an enforced sequence.
Product selection for each point type
Ward entry point
Standard configuration: GloveSafe INOX 517, MaskSafe INOX 517, ApronGuard INOX 392. The 517 mm variant (12.81 l) is justified here — the entry point serves the entire ward's traffic, and frequent refilling means the dispenser stands empty for part of the day. Mount at 140–150 cm, in the line of sight of the person entering, before or immediately after the hand disinfectant dispenser — according to your facility's procedure.
Changing point
Complete configuration: CapSafe INOX, MaskSafe INOX, ApronGuard INOX, SafeStep INOX and GloveSafe INOX as the final element. What matters here is less the product selection than arranging them in the order defined by the donning procedure. A sequence imposed by the wall layout works without additional training. For high-traffic changing rooms the no-touch SafeStep INOX is worth considering instead of SafeStep.
Procedure point
Minimum configuration: GloveSafe INOX 392 at every station, MaskSafe INOX 392 in procedure and isolation rooms. Proximity, not capacity, is the priority here — the 392 mm variant (9.71 l) is the right choice. In isolation rooms it is worth duplicating the glove dispenser: one outside at the entrance, one inside.
SecuBox as a storage layer and a home for reusable equipment
Wall dispensers cover single-use PPE. A separate problem is reusable equipment and small items with no defined home: safety glasses, face shields, procedure kit, emergency reserve. Wall-mounted SecuBox containers work well here:
- SecuBox Mini — one pair of safety glasses or small PPE at a single workstation. The smallest item in the line, sensible at phlebotomy points and single-operator stations.
- SecuBox Midi — a universal container for a procedure room or nurses' station. The transparent variant lets you verify contents without opening.
- SecuBox Maxi — larger capacity, for a ward entry point or local store.
- SecuBox Maxi 12 — a container for 12 pairs of safety glasses. A solution for zones where glasses are shared equipment within a shift.
The logic here differs from dispensers: SecuBox does not dispense, it stores in a defined location. That solves the problem of equipment that in practice lies "somewhere on the worktop" — and is therefore absent when needed.
How to audit your issuing points — four steps
- Walk the staff route, not the floor plan. Enter the ward the way a nurse does on an afternoon shift. Note where she stops to put something on and where she reaches for it.
- Measure the distance to the nearest PPE from every station. A simple count in steps. Anything above five steps is a candidate for a new point.
- Count the open cartons. Every PPE carton on a worktop, windowsill or floor is a point that should be a dispenser. It is also, simultaneously, the list of findings an auditor will record.
- Cross-check against the procedure. Verify that the physical order of equipment matches the order defined in your PPE donning procedure. A mismatch is a source of deviations.
B2B quotation — how to prepare your enquiry
What to include in your enquiry
- Number of wards and the type of each — medical, surgical, isolation, ICU. This determines size variant and set composition.
- Number of points of each type — entry, changing, procedure. If you have not counted them, give us the number of rooms and stations and we will calculate.
- Front preference — INOX (surface uniformity) or acrylic (stock level control). These can be mixed within a single order.
- Documentation required — technical data sheets, mill certificate 3.1 to EN 10204, cleaning procedure, installation guide.
- Purchase route — direct order or tender procedure. For tenders we will prepare a subject-of-contract description meeting technical neutrality requirements.
Standard quotation turnaround: 48 working hours. Net B2B prices with volume thresholds; for entities with an EU VAT number registered in VIES we deliver VAT-free as an intra-community supply.