Safety Flooring: The Ultimate Guide
According to Altro, one of the leaders of safety flooring technology, over 424,000 people die every year from falls, which are the second leading cause of accidental deaths from injury worldwide. This is why appropriate safety flooring is key in many industries.
Safety flooring is now the standard flooring installation in a number of industries, with the ease of cleaning and the decrease in slips and falls a major factor. Safety flooring is now common place in industries such as food, healthcare and leisure, and other places where increased health and safety is required. There are several types of safety flooring offered by different manufacturers, including resin flooring, rubber flooring and smooth flooring. But how does safety flooring work?
How does safety flooring work?
Safety flooring gains its anti-slip qualities in two different ways. In some cases, the vinyl during manufacturing is mixed with silicone carbide, quartz and aluminium oxides, while in other situations, the vinyl floor is given a non-slip coating. When a contaminant, wet or dry, finds itself on a floor, it acts as a film that stops a foot making contact with the ground - it's this that results in a slip or fall. The anti-slip technology of safety flooring means aggregates are incorporated into a wear layer, helping to penetrate the film created by the contaminant, to make the shoe and floor make proper contact. Safety flooring also has a softer, cushioned feeling than other floors, which helps towards removing the risk of trips and slips.
The floors are also designed to be hygienic, with spillages, and therefore germs, not able to be absorbed. Also, with no joins, the floors are easy to thoroughly clean and maintain, reducing the risk of infection spread.
Altro Safety Flooring
One of the key manufacturers of safety flooring is Altro, who prove that flooring can be both safe and attractive, boasting a range of great safety flooring designs.
The Altro XpressLay range of flooring boasts stylish patterns available in 23 colours in 20 metre rolls of vinyl. It's designed to be fitted without adhesive, loose laid with double sided tape holding t in place. As well as being a safe, stylish floor, it's also environmentally friendly, being 100% recyclable.
Off the back of the XpressLay range comes the Altro XpressLay Plus. Packing the benefits of the original range, the XpressLay Plus improves its design with fresh, non-sparkle, non-industrial colour selections, with 19 options.
Designed specifically for wet areas, the Altro Marine 20 range is a contemporary styled safety floor available in nine colours. Taking into mind bare feet or soft soled software being used in a wet area, the floor is suitable for use around showers and swimming pools, making a great solution for public leisure centres and home bathrooms.
Another of the Altro ranges is the Walkway 20, boasting 42 colours of modern safety flooring design. The Walkway 20 range is designed for hard-wearing areas, with the flooring packing 2mm of thickness. Throughout this thickness is aluminum trioxide, which combines with the silicon carbide at the surface, provides resistance to slipping and abrasion.
Boasted as a "technological breakthrough", the Altro Aquarius range is a versatile safety floor, offering safety to those barefoot, those in soft soled shoes, and those wearing hard soled or rubber shoes or trainers. The Aquarius range is available in 16 colours.
Homely, comforting, classy, warm, nurturing. Not words you'd expect to associate with safety flooring, but the Altro Wood Safety range combines a slip resistant solution with 12 high quality, real-wood effect designs.
The Altro Classic 25 range offers 12 solid colours with understated, subtle patterns, combined with slip resistant, durable, abrasion resistant technology, perfect for heavy traffic areas.
Altro Reliance 25 does what it says on the tin, offering reliable safety flooring in 27 different colours. It's another slip resistant floor that's great in high foot and wheel traffic areas.
Altro Pisces is designed to give a "home from home" feel for places providing accommodation that require anti-slip safety flooring. Boasting 16 attractive designs, Pisces combines good visual design with top safety technology.
Finally, the Altro Contrax Safety Flooring range shows that you don't need to spend a lot to get safe, efficient flooring. An economic, no frills safety flooring option, the Contrax range is available in 13 colours, each offering great slip-resistance.
Polyflor Safety Flooring
Another big safety flooring creator is Polyflor, who offer multiple ranges for different industries, applications and styles. Each range uses top non-slip technology to ensure floors are both highly safety efficient, and contemporarily designed.
The Polysafe Hydro Evolve range is designed for continuously wet areas, and has eight, light and subtle colour options.
Polysafe Astral PUR is a general safety flooring option, suitably for a wide variety of installations and applications. Stocked in 14 vibrant colours, it's known for its high durability and sustainable slip resistance.
One of the more stylish ranges from Polyflor is the Modena PUR, showing off a micro-granite decoration in 14 contemporary colours. Not only does it look great, it also boasts sustainable slip resistance.
For real wood effect flooring, combined with strong safety technology, the Polysafe Wood FX PUR is highly recommended. The range boasts 12 designs, each giving off an authentic, high clarity wood feel. Polyflor have recreated popular wood designs to supply a range of light to dark shaded vinyl styles, each completely efficient as safety flooring.
Polysafe Hydro is another flooring option perfect for wet floors, in places such as leisure centres and bathrooms. As well as stocking eight aqueous colour designs, the safety efficiency of the floor is increased with a raised emboss.
Complete with sustainable slip resistance, high durability and a great level of performance, the Polysafe Vogue Ultra PUR range is a great safety flooring option. Away from the safety aspect, the design is speckled with a multi-coloured chip decoration, and the range is made up of 16 traditional colours.
Another range of safety flooring offered by Polyflor is the Polysafe Verona PUR. A carborundum free option, the Verona range is made up of 18 colour options, each a subtle pastel shade contrasting with a stronger accent hue. A real impact flooring piece, great for showcase areas, the Verona vinyl range has a secondary chip decoration and is a very attractive, safe option for many areas.
The Polysafe Arena PUR range of vinyl designs is highly durable with sustainable slip resistance, also boasting decorative design in 12 colours. This range replicates the design of materials and textiles, and also uses a subtle addition of aluminium oxide particles in the vinyl to aid the safety elements of the flooring.
Offering a more vibrant style is the Polysafe Mosaic PUR range, with a striking flake decoration available in ten varied colours. As well as having an eye catching design, the floor is designed with the highest quality sustainable slip resistance technology, and is perfect for both commercial and residential areas.
Polysafe Ultima is another vinyl safety floor that boasts a more eye catching style, offering multi-chip decoration solutions in six colours. The Ultima range is designed specifically for heavy use areas, and as such is highly durable and has enhanced slip resistance.
The Polysafe Standard range is the economic option for those looking for a safety flooring solution. Available in 16 colours, the range features PUR coating to create optimum appearance and retention, helping to bring down the cycle maintenance cost, and creating a great value for money, safe flooring choice.
Safety flooring has become a crucial aspect to take into account in a wide range of industries and spaces. Helping to reduce the number of accidents in high slip risk places such as swimming pools, bathrooms and hospitals, the floors are highly effective and efficient. Despite the priority of the floors being the aspect of safety, both Polyflor and Altro have created ranges that are contemporary, stylish and well suited by design for a number of environments.
To find out more about safety flooring, and what Flooring Supplies Direct can do for you, get in touch by giving us a call on 0161 773 3895, emailing [email protected], or filling in a contact form by clicking here.
How does safety flooring work?
Safety flooring gains its anti-slip qualities in two different ways. In some cases, the vinyl during manufacturing is mixed with silicone carbide, quartz and aluminium oxides, while in other situations, the vinyl floor is given a non-slip coating. When a contaminant, wet or dry, finds itself on a floor, it acts as a film that stops a foot making contact with the ground - it's this that results in a slip or fall. The anti-slip technology of safety flooring means aggregates are incorporated into a wear layer, helping to penetrate the film created by the contaminant, to make the shoe and floor make proper contact. Safety flooring also has a softer, cushioned feeling than other floors, which helps towards removing the risk of trips and slips.
The floors are also designed to be hygienic, with spillages, and therefore germs, not able to be absorbed. Also, with no joins, the floors are easy to thoroughly clean and maintain, reducing the risk of infection spread.
Altro Safety Flooring
One of the key manufacturers of safety flooring is Altro, who prove that flooring can be both safe and attractive, boasting a range of great safety flooring designs.
The Altro XpressLay range of flooring boasts stylish patterns available in 23 colours in 20 metre rolls of vinyl. It's designed to be fitted without adhesive, loose laid with double sided tape holding t in place. As well as being a safe, stylish floor, it's also environmentally friendly, being 100% recyclable.
Off the back of the XpressLay range comes the Altro XpressLay Plus. Packing the benefits of the original range, the XpressLay Plus improves its design with fresh, non-sparkle, non-industrial colour selections, with 19 options.
Designed specifically for wet areas, the Altro Marine 20 range is a contemporary styled safety floor available in nine colours. Taking into mind bare feet or soft soled software being used in a wet area, the floor is suitable for use around showers and swimming pools, making a great solution for public leisure centres and home bathrooms.
Another of the Altro ranges is the Walkway 20, boasting 42 colours of modern safety flooring design. The Walkway 20 range is designed for hard-wearing areas, with the flooring packing 2mm of thickness. Throughout this thickness is aluminum trioxide, which combines with the silicon carbide at the surface, provides resistance to slipping and abrasion.
Boasted as a "technological breakthrough", the Altro Aquarius range is a versatile safety floor, offering safety to those barefoot, those in soft soled shoes, and those wearing hard soled or rubber shoes or trainers. The Aquarius range is available in 16 colours.
Homely, comforting, classy, warm, nurturing. Not words you'd expect to associate with safety flooring, but the Altro Wood Safety range combines a slip resistant solution with 12 high quality, real-wood effect designs.
The Altro Classic 25 range offers 12 solid colours with understated, subtle patterns, combined with slip resistant, durable, abrasion resistant technology, perfect for heavy traffic areas.
Altro Reliance 25 does what it says on the tin, offering reliable safety flooring in 27 different colours. It's another slip resistant floor that's great in high foot and wheel traffic areas.
Altro Pisces is designed to give a "home from home" feel for places providing accommodation that require anti-slip safety flooring. Boasting 16 attractive designs, Pisces combines good visual design with top safety technology.
Finally, the Altro Contrax Safety Flooring range shows that you don't need to spend a lot to get safe, efficient flooring. An economic, no frills safety flooring option, the Contrax range is available in 13 colours, each offering great slip-resistance.
Polyflor Safety Flooring
Another big safety flooring creator is Polyflor, who offer multiple ranges for different industries, applications and styles. Each range uses top non-slip technology to ensure floors are both highly safety efficient, and contemporarily designed.
The Polysafe Hydro Evolve range is designed for continuously wet areas, and has eight, light and subtle colour options.
Polysafe Astral PUR is a general safety flooring option, suitably for a wide variety of installations and applications. Stocked in 14 vibrant colours, it's known for its high durability and sustainable slip resistance.
One of the more stylish ranges from Polyflor is the Modena PUR, showing off a micro-granite decoration in 14 contemporary colours. Not only does it look great, it also boasts sustainable slip resistance.
For real wood effect flooring, combined with strong safety technology, the Polysafe Wood FX PUR is highly recommended. The range boasts 12 designs, each giving off an authentic, high clarity wood feel. Polyflor have recreated popular wood designs to supply a range of light to dark shaded vinyl styles, each completely efficient as safety flooring.
Polysafe Hydro is another flooring option perfect for wet floors, in places such as leisure centres and bathrooms. As well as stocking eight aqueous colour designs, the safety efficiency of the floor is increased with a raised emboss.
Complete with sustainable slip resistance, high durability and a great level of performance, the Polysafe Vogue Ultra PUR range is a great safety flooring option. Away from the safety aspect, the design is speckled with a multi-coloured chip decoration, and the range is made up of 16 traditional colours.
Another range of safety flooring offered by Polyflor is the Polysafe Verona PUR. A carborundum free option, the Verona range is made up of 18 colour options, each a subtle pastel shade contrasting with a stronger accent hue. A real impact flooring piece, great for showcase areas, the Verona vinyl range has a secondary chip decoration and is a very attractive, safe option for many areas.
The Polysafe Arena PUR range of vinyl designs is highly durable with sustainable slip resistance, also boasting decorative design in 12 colours. This range replicates the design of materials and textiles, and also uses a subtle addition of aluminium oxide particles in the vinyl to aid the safety elements of the flooring.
Offering a more vibrant style is the Polysafe Mosaic PUR range, with a striking flake decoration available in ten varied colours. As well as having an eye catching design, the floor is designed with the highest quality sustainable slip resistance technology, and is perfect for both commercial and residential areas.
Polysafe Ultima is another vinyl safety floor that boasts a more eye catching style, offering multi-chip decoration solutions in six colours. The Ultima range is designed specifically for heavy use areas, and as such is highly durable and has enhanced slip resistance.
The Polysafe Standard range is the economic option for those looking for a safety flooring solution. Available in 16 colours, the range features PUR coating to create optimum appearance and retention, helping to bring down the cycle maintenance cost, and creating a great value for money, safe flooring choice.
Safety flooring has become a crucial aspect to take into account in a wide range of industries and spaces. Helping to reduce the number of accidents in high slip risk places such as swimming pools, bathrooms and hospitals, the floors are highly effective and efficient. Despite the priority of the floors being the aspect of safety, both Polyflor and Altro have created ranges that are contemporary, stylish and well suited by design for a number of environments.
To find out more about safety flooring, and what Flooring Supplies Direct can do for you, get in touch by giving us a call on 0161 773 3895, emailing [email protected], or filling in a contact form by clicking here.