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Do I need an entrance mat?
Whether we are talking about Entrance or Industrial matting, there are always matting opportunities at your facility.
- The estimated cost of finding and removing a pound of dirt from a building is $600.
- One square yard of carpet can accumulate one pound of dirt in a week- twice that in inclement weather.
- 70 to 80% of dust, grime, and dirt in a building are tracked in from the outside on people's feet permanently damaging floors and carpets.
- 91% of shoppers selected a store based on its appearance.
- Without effective entrance matting, as few as 1,500 people can remove 42% of the finish from a floor.
- Without effective matting your slip and fall exposure is increased The average cost of a slip related injury exceeds $12,000.
- Over 30% of worker injuries are slip related.
- In the USA each year, an average of 7.75 claims per 1-million supermarket customers are filed due to slip and fall incidents.
How important are mats to an establishment?
If you consider the facts above and calculate the amount of money a given facility spends on cleaning chemicals, machines, mops, brooms, caution signs, and labor to clean the building, the need to have the most effective matting possible is essential to protecting the investment mentioned in the materials listed above. Lessening the slip and fall potential, in addition, should give you a refreshed reason to get matting for your facility.
Could I use an anti-fatigue mat?
For workers who spend their days on their feet anti-fatigue products are a godsend. They work wonders for foot, leg, and lower back pain. It has been shown that workers actually get less tired and perform better when standing on anti-fatigue mats. Mats Unlimited has a great variety of anti-fatigue mats including Hog Heaven™, Hog Heaven Fashion™, Hog Heaven Plush™, Marble Sof-Tyle™ and more. Everyone knows that factories use anti-fatigue mats at workstations but there are limitless opportunities in the commercial sector. Below are some good applications for anti-fatigue mats.
- Hospitality/Hotels: Hotels are a great place for anti-fatigue mats. Potential applications include the reception desk and concierge desk. A good product to for these areas is the Hog Heaven Plush™. It not only feels great to stand on but also has a beautiful carpet surface that will not detract from the hotels appearance. Another possible application is in larger hotels laundry facilities. A rubber surface like the original Hog Heaven™ is a good options for the workers washing and folding the laundry.
- Retail/Grocery/Department Stores: Grocery stores and other large retailers have employees standing all day at checkout stands. Carpet top and rubber top anti-fatigue mats are both possibilities for this application. Grocery stores are also good prospects for anti-fatigue mats in their Deli and Butcher shops.
- Banks: Banks can use many anti-fatigue mats because they have tellers standing in one place all through the day. Banks can also appreciate the different anti-fatigue options that do not look industrial.
- Schools/Restaurants: Schools and restaurants are also potential applications for anti-fatigue mats, especially in the kitchen areas. The Hog Heaven™ mats are great for food service areas because they are lightweight, grease proof, and have a low profile.
Four Things An Entrance Mat Should Do:
Soil is everywhere. It is a part of the earth we live on and managing it is a vital part of our everyday existence. Today's emphasis on Green Cleaning and the impact of the cleanliness of a building on health makes soil management even more important.
- Stop soil and water at the door: Surprisingly, not all entrance mats are designed to do this. The most effective mats provide a combination of scraping and wiping to stop the maximum amount of contaminants.
- Store soil and water for removal: The most effective entrance mats are designed to provide a place for soil and water to go to for storage. It is important that the storage be designed for maximum storage and ease of removal when the mat is cleaned. It is important that the mat provide a way for soil and water to be contained so they cannot spread to the surrounding floor . Contaminants that flow off the sides of a mat cause damage and can lead to slip/fall dangers. Mats with flat borders do not provide the necessary containment for best performance. Higher performance mats provide a dam that will hold the soil and water for removal during cleaning.
- Minimize tracking of soil and water: This capability is best accomplished by a BI-level construction that provides an upper surface for walking and a lower area where soil and water are stored until removed by cleaning. The amount of soil that a mat allows to be reattached to shoes is directly related to the construction of the mat. High performance mats utilize this permanent rubber reinforced BI-level construction, thereby, trapping large quantities of moisture and dirt, minimizing the effects of soil and water being tracked further into the facility. Low performance mats such as those with non-reinforced ribbed or cut pile face yarn alone will not hold up under foot pressure and will crush in a short period of time, thus allowing more water and dirt to reattach to shoes and be tracked into respective facilities.
- Provide a safe surface: The bottom of a mat should be slip-resistant to minimize movement on the floor when it is walked on. Also any water on the mat should be contained in a reservoir below the traffic surface to prevent moisture on flooring surface adjacent to the mat that can cause slip/fall incidents. Rubber-backed mats provide a better slip resistance than vinyl-backed mats. Rubber-backed mats do not curl, as vinyl mats do, thus reducing trip and fall exposure.
NFSI Certified Mats:
In the marketplace, architects, designers, and specifiers are being educated to select products that are NFSI certified in high-risk areas. It is their assurance that the products have been clinically tested and meet the highest performance standards. This is just another indication that Mats Unlimited is leading the industry with the highest performing, most innovative, and now the safest mats available. Look for the NFSI logo on many of our best quality entrance mats.
Do You Have The Right Size Mat For The Application?
Many times facilities select mats for their entrances without much thought to the size they really need to effectively stop soil & moisture from entering the building. Because 3'x5' and 4'x6' size mats are most often seen in use. Facilities will select one of these smaller mat sizes based on this observation. We also see facilities choose a size similar to the one already in use, which may be too small as well.
The Carpet and Rug Institute recommends a minimum of 12 to 15 feet of coverage to remove 90% of tracked in soil. While a regional grocery store chain's insurance provider recommended a minimum of 23 to 25 feet to remove the majority of moisture entering their facilities. In both cases, the recommendation was much longer that 5 or 6 feet.
One way to determine if the current coverage is sufficient is to look beyond the end of the mat. If there is excess soil, moisture, or wear, it is a good bet that there isn't enough coverage for the conditions. Remember it is always better to have too much coverage than not enough.
What Is Static Dissipative, And How Does It Relate To Anti-Static?
Static dissipative means the mat can eliminate static charges when they come in contact with the mat. Anti-static means the mat will not cause static charges to be generated. Static dissipative mats are anti-static also since they eliminate the charges as they are generated. Static dissipative mats are safe to use around sensitive electronic equipment, since they will allow static charges to be conducted away from the person's body rather than allowing the charge to be discharged to the equipment.
Keep in mind that static dissipative mats are not designed to protect workers from high voltage electric charges. Mats for that application are made by a different process and are very conductive, not just of small electric charges.
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