Non-Slip Flooring Options

No matter what your facility specializes in, it is crucial that the environment is equipped with a flooring solution geared toward safety. After all, your guests, patients, students and staff deserve the peace of mind in knowing that their well-being is taken seriously. While no flooring option can 100 percent ensure that slips and falls will never occur, choosing a non-slip flooring solution will go a long way in minimizing that risk. Below, we will examine why to choose non-slip flooring, the best non-slip flooring options for some of the top market segments, and the importance of choosing a quality commercial flooring contractor for your slip-resistant flooring needs.

Why Choose Non-Slip Flooring

We’ve all been there — simply walking along the hallways at work or even the local supermarket, when all of sudden we lose our footing and begin the fight to stay upright. Not only is this an embarrassing and frightening experience, but it is also one that is quite unnerving from a statistical perspective. In the United States in 2014, 4,679 fatal work injuries were reported according to the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of those, slips, trips, and falls accounted for 793 of the 4,679 fatalities. With numbers like these, it is easy to see why choosing non-slip flooring is paramount to helping eradicate these staggering numbers.

Slip-Resistant Flooring options

Healthcare

Due to polished tiles and liquid spills, healthcare flooring can often become slippery. While these environments can be hectic and extremely busy, choosing a flooring solution that is slip resistant, extremely durable, and easy to maintain is critical to facility success. Rubber and LVT are two popular options that are capable of meeting these performance requirements. Rubber is designed with a focus on traction, while also being soft underfoot and sound absorbent. LVT, on the other hand, is tough, easy to clean, and resistant to skidding, making it a great option for those installations that require a hard surface material.

Education & Corporate

When it comes to market segments such as education and corporate, implementing a flooring that is geared toward safety and quietness are of most importance. In these environments, students and employees, alike, must be protected from falls and noisy disruptions of concentration. Therefore, we suggest using carpet or carpet tiles to meet these needs. Carpet is naturally slip-resistant, yet soft enough to cushion falls when they do occur. Carpet is also naturally sound absorbing and can block out unwanted noises such as heavy foot traffic.

Industrial & Retail

For industrial and retail environments, flooring must not only be slip-resistant, but it must also be durable enough to resist heavy forklift traffic, tire marks, abrasions, oil, fuel, chemicals, road salt and other contaminants. Therefore, we recommend epoxy resin flooring solutions to meet these strenuous demands. Epoxy resin flooring uses floor coatings to create long-lasting, aesthetically pleasing, cost-effective concrete surfaces. Epoxy resin also enhances facilities, accommodating versatile design customizations, such as corporate logos for branding and aisle ways for wayfinding and traffic flow. In addition, epoxy resin offers a wide range of other benefits, including easy maintenance, thermal shock resistance, and rapid flooring implementation for minimal downtime.

A Buyer’s Guide to Slip-Resistant Flooring

No choice affects the success of your project, or your flooring installation costs more than the contractor you select. We’ve published a straightforward guide that shows you how to tell quality flooring contractors from the rest. You’ll learn ways to get maximum value from your flooring project and achieve long-term savings in the process. Fill out the form below to download a buyer’s guide to flooring contractors.