BS 2099:1989

What is BS 2099 - Castors for hospital equipment about?

Casters are vital to healthcare and pharmaceutical that have unique motion control needs.

BS 2099 is a European standard that discusses castors for hospital equipment. BS 2099 outlines the requirements for castors having diameters from 63 mm to 250 mm intended for use on items of hospital equipment used for the transport of patients to manufacture castors that are efficient and durable.

Castors are used for equipment that is frequently mobile in use, and equipment used within the operating theatre, for example, patient trolleys, beds, cylinder trolleys, and instrument trolleys.

Note: Castors intended for use on hospital furniture which is used only on the ward and which is infrequently mobile, for example, bedside lockers and four-fold screens, together with castors intended for use on heavy mobile equipment, for example, portable X-ray machines and food trolleys, are outside the scope of BS 2099.

Who is BS 2099 - Castors for hospital equipment for?

BS 2099 on castors for hospital equipment is relevant to:

• Castor manufacturers
• Test centres or any person involved in testing castors
• Manufacturers of hospital equipment
• Design engineers

Why should you use BS 2099 - Castors for hospital equipment?

A caster is an assembly that includes a wheel and a mount. Casters support and make it easy to manoeuvre carts, racks, dollies and other equipment.

BS 2099 assists you with the correct dimensions of castors and top plates that assist in manufacturing castors of the required size and prevent wastage due to manufacturing castors of incorrect size.

BS 2099 also provides you with the performance parameters of swivel and movement on lock and tyre wear, wheel rock and swivel rock that assist in evaluating the performance of castors and thus also assist in enhancing the performance of castors.

BS 2099 also guides regarding the antistatic castors and identification and marking of castors to improve the quality standards for castors for use on hospital equipment and allow greater mobility.

With obedience and compliance to BS 2099, you can enhance the efficacy of castors and manufacture a standardized product that has global acceptance in the market. In addition, can also reduce operator strain and provide patient comfort, especially on hospital beds.

What’s changed since the last update?

BS 2099:1989 supersedes BS 2099-1:1970, which has been withdrawn. BS 2099:1989 has made some technical changes with respect to BS 2099-1:1970. These include:

• The scope of the standard has been restricted to castors with wheels having diameters from 63 mm to 250 mm
• The lightweight class of castor has been deleted together with the drive plug type of fitting as this was only used on lightweight castors.
• Requirements have been included for castors with a centrally operated directional or total lock system. Test methods for the locking system have also been introduced.
• Requirements are no longer included for materials and finish 
• The identification code for castors has been expanded to encompass different locking systems and it is now required that all castors are marked with an identification code