Article Number : 2051 |
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| Date | 6/12/2007 8:54:48 AM |
| Written By | LGM & Associates Technical Flooring Services |
| View this article at: | //floorbiz.com/BizResources/NPViewArticle.asp?ArticleID=2051 |
| Abstract | By Sarah Zimmerman The concern for safer flooring in the commercial sector has only recently surpassed aesthetics, as companies have shown statistics on falls, the environment and how proven safety flooring doesn’t mean ugly... |
| Article | By Sarah Zimmerman The concern for safer flooring in the commercial sector has only recently surpassed aesthetics, as companies have shown statistics on falls, the environment and how proven safety flooring doesn’t mean ugly. “As trends move through faces, safety in flooring has become ultra important within the past decade,” said Jeremy Whipple, marketing manager, RHC. “Flooring solutions that don’t offer some sort of safety aspect most likely will not be chosen over safety flooring.” Dawn Fisher, strategic marketing for Altro Floors, noted though the concept of safety flooring is critical in the U.S., in practice, it’s still not used here as widely as in Europe and Canada. However, up until recently, safety flooring did have an industrial look and feel, she said. “Now there are arrays of aesthetically pleasing designs that work in ‘front-of-house’ areas.” Therefore, Altro expects to see a large shift in the perception of safety flooring over the next few years, according to the company. Ivan Stoler, president of Allstate Rubber, noted safety flooring is a double-edged sword in today’s world. “Rubber tile has natural tackiness that helps in slip prevention, but for years safety has meant ugly colors. With the advent of modern polymer technology manufacturers can now offer safety flooring in a myriad of hues.” Selling points So, how do mills and contractors affect this shift in mind, educating end users and placing safety at the forefront of sales? According to Whipple, statistics are often used and can quickly attract the interest of most customers. “Liability issues garner the respect of the customer and will often prompt a conversation,” he said. “We also use our creative marketing tools to demonstrate product versatility and ability to perform when safety is a concern.” Altro provided FCNews with some of these statistics in an excerpt from the 2005 White House Conference on Aging White Paper presented by the National Safety Council, including: • Falls are the leading cause of unintentional death among people 65 and older, approaching 11,000 deaths per year. • There were 1.8 million emergency room visits and more than 420,000 hospital admissions of adults 65 years and older as a result of falls according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. • An estimated one in three adults 65 years and older experience a fall each year. • Hip fractures, primarily the result of falls, account for some 300,000 hospitalizations each year, and the direct care costs of osteoporotic fractures are some $18 billion each year. • About 20% of people who suffer a hip fracture will die within a year of suffering the injury. While these stats provide knowledge on the importance of safer flooring, manufacturers use real life scenarios to show how safety flooring could reduce these numbers. As Fisher noted, “The best I can do is provide you the scenario of a marble hotel lobby on a rainy day—where it is frightening to walk with sneakers no less heals as opposed to flooring with oxide particles that grip the bottom of shoes. Safety flooring would definitely reduce falls.” Another selling point of safety flooring today is its green benefits. Stoler noted rubber flooring is environmentally friendly for a number of reasons—long life cycle, thus reducing the amount of material heading into landfills; lower maintenance costs, less VOC-emitting wax needed; use of natural ingredients, and it’s recyclable. According to Altro, in many cases safety flooring is looked at as the villain because it’s often made of vinyl. However, Fisher added, “PVC is used for hundreds of everyday applications—bottle liners, pools, packaging, cables, windows and flooring. It is formed from two natural resources, salt (57%) and oil (43%), and uses considerably less energy in production than linoleum or ceramics.” She also noted in its pure form PVC is neither toxic nor bio accumulative. Roppe added another aspect to safety flooring’s green edge—cork. Using cork in one of its safer flooring choices, Whipple said, “Our SafeTcork products are environmentally friendly because cork is a renewable resource, and we obtain the material from wine bottle cork manufacturers, so it is also pre-consumer/post-industrial waste.” Safety offerings Roppe manufactures several products to promote safety in a given environment, noted Whipple. These include: rubber tile and treads for floors and stairways; AlphaBase, a Pinnacle Rubber Base featuring the ability to add safety signage where needed in schools, hospitals, dorms and public buildings; SafeTcork rubber and vinyl tile and rubber tread products for added visual appeal and the benefit of slip resistance that increases 20% over the standard Co-efficient of Friction (COF) for rubber flooring when moisture is present; rubber and vinyl accessories that are ADA compliant and designed for minimal reaction between two flooring surfaces, and the new Dimensions Rubber Tile, which incorporates familiar patterns found among carpet tile or ceramic options with the added benefits of rubber flooring. Stoler noted, Allstate offers rubber flooring in 45 textures and over 100 colors. “The issue with rubber is actual physical texture or relief. How do you design a texture that helps prevent falls, yet does not create a maintenance headache?” He said the company listens to its customers’ needs to engineer products that meet their requirements, noting a large percentage of the company’s products are low-profile textures that give grip, yet are easy to clean. Altro provides strictly safety flooring. One product with recently enhanced color offerings is its Suprema line, which is the company’s first high-density safety flooring. It encompasses the safety and hygienic benefits of traditional safety flooring and includes stain resistance, color retention and cleanability, plus it requires no finish. Recently Altro introduced Timbersafe, the first wood-look safety flooring, according to the company. It combines six authentic wood visuals—beech, chestnut, oak, pine, cherry and walnut—with slip resistance, hardwearing, resistance to scuffs and impacts, and is easy-to-clean. |