All too often I encounter the same situation: A sign placed in an entrance way warning visitors of the impending danger of a wet floor. This time it happened to be on my travels as I passed through Dublin airport. However I frequently encounter the same hazard in supermarkets, train stations, restaurants and all manner of public concourses. Seemingly I live life on the edge avoiding one danger after another!
Clearly something is wrong if we’re not able to cope with the wet British weather and have to resort to warning rather than preventing the problem occurring in the first place.
Diagnosing the problem
If the floor in an entranceway is wet and causing a hazard, then there are insufficient methods in place to stop water being transported from outside and onto the floor, whether this be on people’s feet or by wheeled traffic, such as wheelchairs and prams etc.
It may be that there is no matting in place at all or alternatively the matting in place is not effective enough and needs replacing, which can prove particularly costly if the matting in place is fixed into a well/recess.
For entrance matting to be effective it must do the following:
1. Remove soil and water
2. Store soil and water for later removal
3. Minimise tracking of soil and water
4. Provide a safe surface to walk on
In the example I have pictured above there are a few reasons why this matting is ineffective which I will briefly cover here.
The fixed matting system in the foreground does not have enough nylon fabric (drying) sections coming into contact with shoes, so it is not removing all of the soil and water. The fabric sections have become saturated and are no longer storing water. As further people walk over the mat, the soil and water is being tracked off the edge of the mat and onto the hard floor which is where the wet floor sign is placed.
The loose lay mats after the fixed matting are the wrong size, leaving gaps between the mats where the floor is getting wet. Furthermore the pile on these mats has flattened and worn, meaning that they too do not have sufficient pile/fabric to hold onto soil and water before quickly becoming saturated.
The day I took the picture the weather was drizzly, but it wasn’t a particularly wet day. If it was then I could safely presume that the possibility of a slip or fall accident would be raised considerably.
The solution
An airport is a particularly challenging environment due to the high volume of foot and wheeled traffic that will pass through it’s doors each and every day, but the problem is replicated in many other environments where no matting or ineffective matting is in place.
Factors to consider when choosing appropriate matting are:
1. How exposed is the area to the elements?
2. What amount of foot and wheeled traffic is passing through the entrance?
3. What direction is the traffic travelling?
4. What length of matting required to be effective?
5. How often are the mats or area cleaned to remove soil and water?
Depending on the area you have a problem with, it may be sufficent to have one mat do the job or it may be necessary to require more than one mat placed one after the other or a ‘matting system’.
The most effective entrance matting solution will be a 3 mat entry system comprising of:
1. An outdoor mat to remove heavy soil / snow etc
2. An interior barrier entrance mat to remove soil and water
3. An interior finishing mat to remove finer dust and any remaining water
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Need some more help finding a matting solution?
Everyone has their own individual circumstances and requirements. For advice on choosing the right mats for you, call our customer services team on 0121 313 6748 during normal office hours. Simply click the button beneath to request this or to find out more.
