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Meet legislation and protect patients and staff with Altro’s durable safety flooring
 The selection of floor coverings has always been important in healthcare environments due to the wide variety of practical requirements. Ease of cleaning and hygiene remain key considerations with the continued threat of MRSA and other ‘superbugs’. With hundreds of patients, staff and visitors combined with the wear and tear of trolleys, chemicals and medical equipment, durability is also vital. Appearance is also becoming essential with growing acknowledgement of the impact of design on people’s welfare. Increasingly, healthcare establishments are being bound by legislative rules which have a major impact on product choice.
Providing a safe environment for all users is paramount. Slips and trips remain the most common cause of workplace accidents. Over 11,000 slips and trips occurred in UK workplaces last year, with 19 per cent caused by wet surfaces after cleaning or spillages. In the health sector, slips account for 54 per cent of accidents – that’s 20 per cent above the national average.
The law requires that “floors must not be slippery, so as to expose any person to a risk to their safety”. Hospitals have a legal duty to build safety into a design with specialist safety flooring with a minimum Slip Resistance Value (SRV) of 36 to be used in all “at risk” areas. Properly maintained Altro safety flooring is one way to meet this requirement. With modern design and technology, there are materials suitable for every hospital location.
Improving the rights of disabled people through legislation is another issue which is rising up the agenda and providers must take reasonable steps towards the elimination of physical features in their premises that might prevent disabled people from accessing their services.
A key requirement is a clear boundary between floors, walls and staircases to ensure the visual impaired are able to move freely around a building. The amount of light reflected from surfaces is the main factor in determining people’s ability to identify different surfaces. The DDA focuses on the Light Reflectance Value (LRV) of products, and states that there should be at least a 30 point variance between surfaces.
With every surface having an LRV marked out of 100 points, Altro flooring and walling products can be mixed and matched to achieve a compliant finish. An example of compliant design would be the positioning of Altro Timbersafe Cherry (LRV 39) next to Altro Suprema Minerva (LRV 71).
The wide range of Altro surfaces combined with Altro Art, a new design and cut service for flooring, gives hospitals the ability to comply with DDA regulations, while having free reign to create achieve great aesthetics through a choice of standard or personalised designs.
For more information
For further information on Altro’s full portfolio
of interior surfaces, call 0800 018 2960 or visit www.altro.com
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