FLOORCARE & MAINTENANCE IN A WORLD OF CLAIMS
Tom Campton, Director of Beaver Floorcare, shares some pearls of wisdom on how facilities managers can reduce the risk of slips and trips on their floors in a bid to cut down on potential ‘slip claim’ lawsuits.
Over the last 10 years, the UK has followed our American counterparts in the slip claim culture, this has resulted in a huge increase of ‘Where there’s blame, there’s a claim’, ‘No Win, No Fee’ claimants, some are justified and true, other are not.
This is not an easy mindset to break and can be detrimental for business owners, building managers and anyone else that has people walking over their floors, not only is it public or visitors, but also employees that can exploit the ‘slip claim’ scenario. For me, it is a disappointing outlook for the future of our societies. It may not be possible to change the mindset of people finding a floor on which to slip over, however it can be prevented by utilising the correct anti-slip floor treatments.
Initially, acid etching was the preferred method for a quick anti-slip fix. This has numerous drawbacks that can not only affect the applicant but also the end client that will be left with the resulting floor surface. If carried out correctly and sealed afterwards, it can provide an 18-36 month lifespan before needing to be re-treated. It is also down to the engineer that is carrying out the work and allowing the correct dwell times. We carried out a slip treatment for a well known pharmacy branch in Wales more than three years ago using an acid etch and sealing method specified by the architect, which is still performing within the correct HSE guidelines.
There are other slip treatments (which I won’t name for professional reasons) on the market that have positive and negative effects on different floor surfaces, they will claim that they are the best ‘one-fix solution’ for all floor surfaces, however I have conducted numerous pendulum tests and trials on many different floor surfaces with very varying results.
It requires knowledge of the floor surface, understanding the material composition and knowledge of the slip treatment to determine how the
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It may not be possible to change the mindset of people finding a floor on
which to slip over, however it can be prevented by
utilising the correct anti- slip floor treatments.
two materials will react with each other and the results that are drawn from the process.
At Beaver Floorcare, we recently trialled three anti-slip treatments for a client on a flame-sealed limestone which has been showing signs of poor slip resistance. To my surprise the product that I thought would provide the most satisfactory pendulum test value reading provided the poorest result. However, one of the other two slip treatments did reach a desired 50+ pendulum test value reading, which the client was very pleased with. This proves that you cannot rely on one product to solve all floors that have the potential for slips, and any
professional should have an arsenal of other products to hand to solve any slip issues they may face.
The factors that require investigation when assessing a potentially slippery floor are generally as follows:
• Floor surface type • Type of use • Interior or exterior • Amount of footfall • Current cleaning regime
Once the floor in question has been made safe using the best anti-slip treatment, it is important to the longevity of the treatment that the correct maintenance and cleaning guidelines and chemicals are installed. Generally the use of abrasive cleaning materials such as black floor pads, high alkaline pH or low acidic pH chemicals are not to be used on floors that have been treated. Neutral pH cleaners along with soft brushes or red pads are the normality but the contractor that has treated the floor should devise a correct cleaning programme.
www.beaverfloorcare.co.uk
Tomorrow’s Cleaning November 2015 | 59
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