Whether its rainwater being blown into your entranceway, sodden footprints walked over your flooring, drips and splashes in the washroom or spills throughout your workplace, wet floors can be a hazard.
The Health and Safety Executive reports that slipping and tripping are the single most common cause of injuries in UK workplaces. And these have a negative impact on staff as well as the wider business. Slips and trips are to blame for over a third of all reported major injuries in the workplace with a staggering 95% of major slips resulting in broken bones and, sadly, two fatalities per year. As well as the potentially acute human cost, slips and trips cost employers a hefty £512 million a year due to lost production, sick pay and other costs.
However, slips and trips are not inevitable. No doubt the first thing you’re going to be thinking is how to reduce slips and trips from happening in your workplace – and just how easy this will be.
The fact is, the HSE reports that most slips happen in environments which are either wet or contaminated and the majority of trips are due to poor housekeeping. Therefore, keeping your workplace flooring dry and clean needs to be your priority if you want to improve health and safety in your organisation.
Fortunately, there are tried and tested methods which significantly counter the risk of slips and trips which you can implement straight away and which have an immediate impact. One of these is by choosing an effective and hardworking matting system which will absorb water and remove dirt – keeping your floors cleaner, drier and thereby safer.
There is a huge range of commercial mat options available. So, if you’re looking for a water absorbent mat, what exactly do you need and how do they work? Let phs Syncros be your guide.
What is a water absorbent mat?
A water absorbent mat is a type of mat which is purpose-designed to capture and hold moisture and this could be from rainwater, wet feet, leaks and spillages or within wet environments. Every property within the mat such as the materials it is created from, the type of texture, how it is woven and the structure of the mat is designed to absorb water – and retain it. For instance, with ultra-fine fibres and high-twist nylon fibres, water absorbent mats can pick up 32% more moisture than a standard nylon mat and 46% more than a standard cotton mat.
Where to put water absorbent mats?
One of the key places to put a water absorbent mat is at a workplace entrance as this is one of the biggest areas of water contamination. An entrance mat collects dirt and moisture from people’s shoes as they walk across it, therefore keeping floors drier. This not only mitigates the risk of slipping by keeping the area drier and cleaner but also reduces the burden on cleaning staff to constantly clean entranceways in wet weather as well as ensuring staff and customers have a positive first impression when they arrive at your premises.
But water absorbent mats aren’t just effective at entranceways, they are also beneficial throughout several other areas of the workplace. An appropriate mat placed in washrooms near wash basins or a bespoke hand dryer mat under hand dryers can transform your washroom environment – not only looking good but keeping flooring significantly drier and cleaner too.
Heading over to your kitchens, canteens and communal areas such as staff rooms, you’re likely to find spills, leaks, drips and dubious wet patches around sinks, water coolers and hot drink dispensers. If you’ve got hard flooring, this will make it slippery while carpets are likely to become stained, discoloured and dirty. Using a water absorbent mat in these areas is a game changer in keeping your workplace floor dry, clean and, again, safe.
What types of water absorbent mats are there?
Water absorbent mats come in various materials and sizes so you can choose the right mat to do the most effective job for your requirements, no matter the location or level of foot traffic. This can include matting systems with multiple filament fibres to brush shoes and absorb water, mats with an open construction suitable for indoors and outdoors to allow water to drain through and mats which incorporate absorbent high-twist nylon fibres with aluminium scraper bars making them tough and versatile while offering the ultimate in dirt and moisture removal from footwear.
The range of commercial matting at Syncros includes loose lay mats which you can simply place where needed or mats to be installed and laid in wells for a more permanent fixture. Whether you’re looking for an off-the-shelf mat or a bespoke solution, Syncros can help. We also cater for unusual shapes and configurations and offer a fantastic selection of styles, colours and patterns. If you’re looking to make more of an impression and want your mat to complement your brand, ask about our logo mats. You can even design mats to convey messages or act as directional navigators. What’s more, our mats are made from ECONYL, a regenerated nylon created from discarded fishing nets rescued from the ocean. So, by choosing one of our mats, you’re also helping to clean up ocean plastic pollution too.
Who are Syncros?
Syncros is a leading national provider of commercial matting solutions. We have supplied and installed workplace mats around the country for nearly 30 years. With the expertise and experience to boot, contact us today so we can advise on the most effective matting solutions for your organisation no matter what you’re looking for.
