SAFETY FLOORING
Affordable Safety That’s Stylish Too
There’s literally no room for any slip-ups when it comes to safety around swimming pools and hot tubs, especially if you are a commercial operator. With flooring materials assessed for how slippery they are when wet and under foot, there’s extra pressure to ensure floors provide a safe level of grip regardless of the conditions. Thankfully, there’s a wide choice of materials available to suit any application and budget. This issue, we examine the options that are enhancing safety in wet leisure environments
By Andrea Hartshorne F
ortunately beauty and safety can go hand in hand with the large array of tiles, stones and matting available for pool and spa surrounds. It’s all very well having safety first and foremost in mind but everyone wants style and elegance to enhance their wet leisure enironment. In today’s modern world, with technological advances in safety flooring, this is a reality and the selection of styles and materials on offer continues to grow.
Safety comes first, not just at the water’s edge but also in changing rooms, plant service areas, steps and around water play equipment. Anywhere that water may be present and the possibility exists for a slipping accident. The ranges of flooring options now provide solutions for anything from pools for the very young and the associated play apparatus to sophisticated, up market, private member leisure facilities and many of the safe flooring solutions come at a price to satisfy any pocket. Non-slip no longer equates to zero style and there is a huge selection of flooring materials and colour choices on offer that guarantee to cut out the bumps and bruises and are also impressively easy on the eye – from specially treated slip resistant traditional tiles to the more contemporary granular rubber flooring. To provide one of the benchmarks of
safety, the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) preferred method of testing is the ‘pendulum test’, and many non-slip material suppliers have tested their flooring in this way. It measures dynamic coefficient of friction (CoF) and is designed to replicate a pedestrian heel strike which is the point at which most slips can occur. Floors with an average reading of 36 or above on the scale are considered a low potential for slip. The equipment is portable and can be used in the conditions where slip accidents happen. In addition to the above, it is worth noting the following from Flexflooring’s Managing
www.swimmingpoolnews.co.uk
Director Paul Robinson who advised: “Safety is obviously of paramount importance and especially in a commercial environment. All surfaces can be slip tested, however I would warn that whatever the claim by the manufacturer, a slip test needs to be done post installation as environmental and installation factors can affect the non-slip properties of most materials and depending on the material used, a test should be redone at a suitable interval.”
ANTI-SLIP TILES FROM WAXMAN CERAMICS
Serving the swimming pool and spa industry for over 30 years, Waxman Ceramics is highly astute to the many safety requirements necessary to meet the demanding needs of pool design. Over the years slip resistant tiles have become even more of a necessity, meaning they are more available with a selection of styles at the designers disposal and, as technologies have enhanced, the designs of such tiles have improved – a huge advantage in overall pool finishing. Waxman Ceramics has a number of tile ranges suitable for pool surrounds and areas
Radica from Waxman Ceramics is an established range that has an anti-slip rating of C in barefoot scenarios, as well as a safe SRV rating in both dry and wet areas
of high foot traffic, which have undergone anti-slip and pendulum testing by the manufacturer to meet industry standards. In some cases Waxman can also carry out pendulum testing independently on its tiles, should it be required, meaning customers have a support network if they need further confirmation of a tile’s safety. Radica, an established anti-slip range
from Waxman Ceramics, has undergone such testing via manufacturer and has an anti-slip rating of C in barefoot scenarios, as well as a safe SRV rating in both dry and wet areas. This, combined with its aesthetically pleasing glazed porcelain façade in a riven finish, makes it a suitably stylish and safe range for poolside areas.
Available in four colour options, Atlanta from Waxman Ceramics is a popular choice among contractors and designers
Being well-known for its wide range of mosaic tiles, Waxman Ceramics ensures it has a number of anti-slip options also available in mosaic. Atlanta, a popular choice among contractors and designers, is a glazed ceramic range with the same slip resistant properties as Radica. With the added benefit of four colour options, in mixed and single colour variations, it’s no wonder why this is one of the best sellers.
SPN October 2015 47
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