01
Sort student stations from employee benches
Section 226.1 requires at least 5 percent of work surfaces provided for people other than employees to comply with section 902. Section 226.2 disperses those surfaces. The advisory leaves employee-only surfaces outside that percentage; employees may still receive a reasonable accommodation. Section 203.9 requires employee work areas to allow approach, entry, and exit, with other scoping limited to sections 206.2.8, 207.1, and 215.3. A student station uses the 5 percent sentence. An employee-only bench uses the work-area sentence.
The published sentence says “at least 5 percent” and does not add “no fewer than one.” A small class can yield a fraction. Rounding is for the authority having jurisdiction, and this note records both the fraction and that authority. Advisory 902.1 gives student laboratory stations as examples of work surfaces. A student station can be what section 902 measures. The example does not turn every top in the room into that station.
02
Treat knee clearance as a profile
Section 902.3 sets tops from 28 inches minimum to 34 inches maximum. Section 902.2 requires a forward-approach floor space under 305 and knee and toe clearance under 306. Section 305.3 sizes that space at 30 by 48 inches minimum (760 by 1220 mm). Knee clearance runs from 9 inches (230 mm) to 27 inches (685 mm) above the floor, at least 30 inches wide, at least 11 inches (280 mm) deep at 9 inches and 8 inches (205 mm) deep at 27 inches, and no deeper than 25 inches (635 mm) at 9 inches. Depth may shrink 1 inch for each 6 inches of rise.
Toe clearance, from the floor to 9 inches, is at least 30 inches wide and, where required, at least 17 inches (430 mm) deep, to a 25-inch maximum. An opening 30 inches wide still fails if an apron leaves under 8 inches of depth at 27 inches, or under 11 inches at 9 inches. A campus request for a wider knee is a second document. It does not rewrite section 306.
03
Keep the campus ergonomic range in its own column
Berkeley’s guideline calls for a 36-inch-wide knee at ADA work areas. Standing tops are generally adjustable from 28 to 34 inches, fixed at 34, or set by the authority having jurisdiction, which also confirms whether the room is for teaching or research. On counters it calls typically 36 inches high, it asks for one 30-inch knee space on each side of an island, without a pencil drawer or apron. Sitting benches use 22 to 32 inches, or a fixed 28.5 inches, with a knee at least 30 inches wide.
The same guideline allows a 24-inch depth for a laptop, flat panel, or microscope, and movable under-counter units if the aisle stays clear. Front edges of epoxy or similar tops are rounded, and lips are avoided because they press on the forearm and block equipment. A fixed 28.5-inch top can sit inside the 28-to-34-inch band. A stop at 22 inches cannot. Where section 902 applies, the accessible stop is inside the band, and any extra travel is written as a second position.
04
Apply one university’s teaching rule only there
Florida State University’s guideline says teaching laboratories, and research spaces not used strictly as employee work areas, are to meet the accessibility section of the Florida Building Code. Research rooms outside general coursework are treated as work spaces. It then requires 5 percent, and at least one, of the laboratories in each building to have a fully accessible work area, with desks, benches, countertops, sinks, and grouped safety equipment together. For teaching laboratories that applies to each work area. “At least one laboratory” is the university’s clause, not a line in section 226.1.
Breaks for eating and drinking sit outside laboratories and chemical storage. Tops, stools, and chairs are non-porous and easy to clean. Fixed casework is chemically resistant to the products that will be used. Seated areas get marine edges or a similar raised edge. Surfaces the guideline calls accessible hold at least 2 liters, more where larger spills are expected. That 2-liter figure is absent from sections 226, 902, 305, and 306.
05
Lock the height the applicable sentence sets
The selection sheet records users, the percentage and dispersion, the top height and its source, and the knee width the authority adopted. Berkeley’s 36-inch knee and the 30-inch minimum stay in different cells. A 24-inch depth is recorded for a microscope or flat display. A marine edge and a 2-liter trough are recorded only when the Florida State guideline applies. The chemical list sits beside “resistant to the products that will be used.”
Blank cells cover a research height carried into a teaching section, an adjustable range treated as accessible at every stop, and a test claim for a chemical that is not listed. Station count comes from the published course. Open cells sent for factory review travel with the course list and the citations. The inquiry number only labels the package. It measures neither knee depth nor compliance with section 902.
When the plan is ready for a factory review, send the quantities, hazards, and unresolved room limits to a China laboratory furniture manufacturer. Open items should stay open rather than being written as a confirmed specification.