CAREFULLY CONS Healthcare segment manager at Tarkett, Liz Butcher, shares her insights on the princip
What should be the key considerations when specifying flooring for use in care facilities?
Resident welfare is the prime objective of any aged-care facility. Flooring should be designed to maintain residents’ dignity and independence, promote hygiene, improve wellbeing, stimulate cognitive capacities and compensate for the effects of ageing. Through the clever selection of colour, contrast, pattern and placement we can reduce residents’ anxiety and boost confidence, which in turn reduces the risk of slips, trips and falls within a care facility. The space should provide a comfortable, reassuring environment without the institutional feel of a hospital or hotel.
Ensuring safety and boosting confidence can also be achieved with the correct flooring selection. The impairments to sight, hearing and mobility that accompany the ageing process make older people more vulnerable to falls. The additional challenges of designing for dementia should also be considered. Today an estimated 44 million people are living with dementia, the second-largest cause of disability in those over 70. Dementia increases the risk of falls since those living with the condition have trouble interpreting their surroundings and a tendency to roam. Correct contrasts make potential hazards easier to see whilst eliminating the dark areas and shadows that unsettle residents.
Are any flooring types more suitable than others?
Whilst care facilities should not feel like hospitals they must provide a clean environment, especially when residents whose often fragile health puts them at risk of infection. Smooth surfaces are easier to clean and disinfect, so it’s best to avoid textured finishes for walls, floors and areas liable to contamination.
We would always recommend choosing flexible flooring such as vinyl over something like ceramic tiles for example. The latter reflects sound and adds to the general noise level in a care facility, whereas flexible vinyl absorbs sound, keeping it at a comfortable level. It’s also more forgiving should a resident fall. Flooring that is too soft however, can be problematic. Many residents arrive in wheelchairs and therefore the flooring should provide minimal rolling resistance. Failure to do so will add unnecessary strain to the joints of staff and residents alike.
To help stimulate cognitive function, it’s important to create a warm and familiar atmosphere triggering memories and positive associations from the past. For the UK, wood-effect surfaces or familiar floor tiles are often a good solution as they give residents the feeling they are in their own home.
Do you recommend using different materials in different areas?
Absolutely. It’s also more than a recommendation. It’s a requirement issued by the governing body (Health & Safety Flooring). Whilst good quality vinyl flooring can meet the numerous health and wellbeing needs of a care facility, it comes in many variations.
26 | CARE FACILITIES
Slip resistance is required in all areas that are prone to becoming wet such as lavatories, bathrooms and kitchens. Where moving water is expected, such as wetrooms, this slip-resistant flooring must also adhere to additional requirements such as meeting the DIN 51097 classification achieving a Class B rating.
The correct placement of safety flooring can help movement and provide further reassurance but its overuse can be completely counterproductive.
The best advice I could give when selecting your safety flooring is not to over specify or fall for the non-sustainable embossed variations that lose their slip resistance properties over time.
What aspects of design should be considered?
When designing for a care facility every aspect should be carefully thought out, with outcomes such as the reduction of anxiety taking priority over aesthetics.
Layout, lighting, acoustics and décor will help residents deal with the consequences of ageing. Floors, walls and fabrics should be firstly considered in isolation and then holistically to ensure contrasts appear where needed to aid spacial awareness and freedom of movement. Light is also a key factor, with different LUX values required for different areas of a care facility.
It is however, absolutely possible to create attractive environments within the principles of good care facility design. Knowing the rules and then correctly applying them to the vast array of colours and patterns on the market, means environments and their interiors can be exactly as you desire
Are there any colours that should be avoided?
As the eye’s lens gradually yellows with age, our perception of colour is affected. Colours become less vivid and more
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
