FLOOR SAFETY
Altro tested their 2mm safety flooring, their 2.5mm safety flooring, and Altro Stronghold 30 3mm safety flooring, on a standard pendulum test.
THE RESULTS This table shows the risk of slipping across floors with different pendulum and R ratings and how they perform with the different ‘real world’ kitchen contaminants. As suspected, standard slip resistance ratings from PTV and Ramp tests only give part of the picture when it comes to assessing risk in commercial kitchens.
All of these floors maintained their low slip potential when the contaminant was clean water, and they performed well with some other common contaminants, but when it came to
Altro Stronghold 30 R12
PTV ≥55 Water
Vegetable Oil Greasy water Milk
Flour
1 in a million 1 in a million 1 in a million 1 in a million 1 in a million
Plastic wrapping 1 in a million
www.tomorrowshs.com
1 in a million 1 in 100,000 1 in 100,000 1 in a million 1 in a million 1 in a million
1 in a million 1 in 20 1 in 20
1 in a million 1 in a million 1 in a million
vegetable oil and greasy washing up water, it was a different story.
These contaminants are generally more viscous or substantial, creating a thicker layer between floor and shoe. This squeeze film thickness prevents the foot making contact with the floor and increases the risk of slipping. In commercial kitchens where vegetable oil and greasy water are likely to be present, only Altro Stronghold 30 with the very highest slip resistance maintained a one in a million chance of slipping.
COVERS DON’T MATTER,
CONTAMINANTS DO The results showed that choosing your safety flooring based on how many customers you serve each day
Altro Classic R11 PTV ≥45
Altro R10 PTV ≥36
FLOORING SELECTION CHECKLIST
• Identify your needs. • Identify your likely contaminants. • Conduct a risk assessment. • Understand your risk. • Select your flooring. • Install your flooring. • Maintain your flooring.
could leave you exposed. The rules for health and safety don’t distinguish between small cafes and large five star restaurants – all are required to meet the same standards to ensure the health and safety of all employees.
CHOOSE CAREFULLY In kitchens used for preparing food, our expert opinion is that flooring with PTV≥36, R10 is not recommended. Your chosen flooring needs to be able to perform against wet and dry contaminants and you also need to be confident that it provides sustained lifetime slip resistance rather than a coating that will wear away.
www.altro.co.uk/Commercial-Kitchens 33
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