SLIPS, TRIPS & FALLS


ASESTY


Beaver Floorcare, a leading provider in fl oor maintenance and restoration services for businesses and homes, specifi ed Granwax’s products to ensure that Wolverhampton Civic Hall didn’t slip up when it came to fl oorcare.


Statistics from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reveal that 35,000 serious slip accidents occur in workplaces across Great Britain every year. This means that ensuring floor surfaces meet health and safety standards for slip resistance can be a big concern for both private and public businesses.


Until recently, the wooden floors at Wolverhampton Civic Hall had been maintained with a regular scrub and dry, and an application of wax. Floors such as this (i.e. one without a proprietary slip resisting finish) are prone to very low levels of slip resistance. This is where Beaver Floorcare stepped in, and were asked to assess the problem floors and offered a complete service to produce the most slip resistant floor surface. Tom Campton of Beaver Floorcare explained: “The previous floor surface was shown to have a high slip potential after testing. In order to create the best surface that would minimise the slip hard, we tested the slip resistance of five different specialised finishes at the venue using the HSE approved pendulum test.”


The pendulum coefficient of friction test uses a


32


pendulum to simulate the action of a shoe on both a wet and dry floor covering. The slip resistance is then measured on the pendulum’s scale. Any floor covering with a pendulum test value of 36 or higher is considered a low slip potential by the HSE. The tests were conducted along the boards, against the boards and diagonally in each room to be refinished, to create an accurate set of results.


Whereas the previous floor finish gave an average pendulum test value of 29 dry, and 11 wet, the values increased considerably once Granwax’s Clearsafe finish product had been applied. The finish achieved an average test value of 64 dry and 51 wet, demonstrating that the floor would be considered a low slip potential in both wet and dry conditions by the HSE.


Due to the previous build up of wax and to prevent rejection of the subsequent finishes, Granwax Barrier Seal was also applied to the floor after sanding. The floor was then coated in two coats of Granwax Masterfinish, and a final coat of Granwax Clearsafe. The clear, fast drying finish is very hard wearing and easily





maintained with a simple maintenance routine.


Beaver Floorcare was able to sand and refinish a total of 1,812 square metres across send floors in the venue using Granwax Clearsafe, as well as carrying out repairs to over 70 damaged wooden boards. The team completed the work ahead of schedule, causing minimum disruption to the venue’s activities.


In terms of aftercare, Beaver Floorcare will monitor the performance of the floor quarterly to ensure that it meets health and safety regulations and to assess its overall performance. Tom continued: “The initial inspection after a club


night in one of the halls was exceptional. Whereas the previously waxed floor allowed liquid to seep into the flooring and created slip hazards, the newly finished floors allow liquid to sit on top of the surface and be cleaned off quickly and easily as though nothing had been on it.”


Mark Blackstock, the General Manager of Wolverhampton Civic Hall was very impressed with the end result, and commented: “The Civic Halls floors collectively look fantastic and appear to clean very well. As to the restoration company Beaver Floorcare – the service and care levels were and are of the highest level.”


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60