Floor
Safety Maintenance Program©
What's the ongoing solution to your slippery when wet
ceramic flooring conditions?
Some floor safety precautions such as floor mats, tile
grooving, stick-on tapes, sand blasting, various floor coatings, etc.
are taken because of misinformation, lack of information, or out of expedience.
Most are ineffective and some are damaging.
Although inexperienced with floor safety issues, many
unsafe commercial floor conditions have caused a business owner to take
precautions that they feel are necessary, but may only create secondary
hazards.
As the manufacturer, we have focused our efforts on a
limited range of targeted products, specifically designed to solve the
greatest potential hazard and fill the highest demand.
What is needed is a proven anti-slip ceramic flooring program that ensures
your hard mineral floor maintains an ongoing acceptable slip-resistance.
Ceramic tile has specific longevity, durability, and
ease of maintenance characteristics that make it the most suitable material
for areas posing the greatest slip-fall hazard - i.e. highest traffic,
highest maintenance, highest incident, and highest risk. Ceramic tile
should provide a sustainable slip-resistant surface, when understood,
maintained, and periodically rejuvenated to retain this necessary slip-fall
prevention attribute; however, they seem to be very misunderstood by the
general commercial and residential consumer.
Proper floor-care demands proven products. Products that promote floor
safety and an ongoing maintenance package that keep it that way. Don't
accept that tiles will always maintain the necessary slip-resistance and
don't accept that floor treatments will last.
- All tiles subjected to regular cleaning and heavier traffic
conditions will require an anti-slip treatment application during
their service-span. No tiles are permanently slip-resistant, under
a commercial cleaning regimen and traffic conditions.
- All ceramic tiles should periodically be inspected to determine
if they need a follow-up cleaning and maintenance rejuvenation of
the surface.
- To maximize the ongoing performance and expand the anti-slip
longevity, ceramic tile should be cleaned and maintained with a superior
cleaner and degreaser, as part of regular cleaning activities. The
real problem comes down to understanding the cleaning and maintenance
requirements of ceramic tile. The first thing to recognize is, that
it's usually not the anti-slip treatment of the floor that is the
problem. After treatment, the primary reasons for any floor being
dirty or slippery are either the cleaner being used or the cleaning
methods.
If you are using a cleaner that does not efficiently
clean the floor, it should be replaced with a cleaner that can.
If using a cleaning method that does not efficiently
clean the floor, it should be replaced with a cleaning method that can.
If a floor begins to create a hazardous slippery condition
for staff or patrons, it must be promptly rectified.
It's obvious that there are slippery floors; otherwise,
there wouldn't even be a controversy over what is acceptable slip-resistance
and the several methods of 'coefficient of friction' (COF) standards testing.
It's also obvious, from the statistics, that there are
a lot of slippery floors out there, and unless you are following a preventative
maintenance program, most commercial ceramic floors will become slippery
when wet. With our monitoring system, this problem is corrected immediately.
As you are aware, floors require daily cleaning -- this
is a common maintenance procedure that is accepted when the floor surface
is first installed. When an Anti-Slip treatment is applied to those surfaces
-- it too requires maintenance. Experience tells us that routine daily
cleaning does not stop the eventual buildup of contaminants on your treated
surface. Once this occurs, your treated floors will again not be operating
at maximum effectiveness. Traction will be diminished.
For this reason, you must consider an ongoing maintenance
and inspection program, something that works in tandem with your janitorial
activities - i.e. floor safety experts that can periodically inspect your
floors and recommend methods that ensure your floor retains safe conditions.
At the same time, you will want to receive a written
report, detailing the overall condition of your floor and any potential
problems. This will prove that you have taken steps to provide a safer
flooring environment. If an accident ever does happen, you will be prepared
to show that, as a business, you have taken reasonable care and precautions.
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