Step Away From rubber Mats

Step away
from
rubber mats
Altro safety flooring eliminates the need
for rubber mats in commercial kitchens
Moving on
Since the 1950s, the food service industry has used rubber mats
for slip resistance and underfoot comfort. However, just as
appliances have changed over the last 60 years, so has kitchen
flooring. Altro safety flooring, with its comfort and slip resistance
technology, makes the use of rubber mats obsolete, and potentially
dangerous.
Redundant and dangerous
Any of Altro’s specially-designed floors for commercial kitchens,
such as Altro Stronghold 30, Altro Atlas 40, and Altro Designer
25, offer slip resistance levels well above ADA and OSHA
recommendations1, and retain these values even when wet. With
much of the risk of slipping mitigated by Altro safety flooring,
rubber mats become redundant and only act as potential tripping
hazards.
continued...
explore altro.com
Food service is among the industries with the highest risk of trips,
in wet and greasy conditions and also provides more comfort with
slips and falls. Imagine a hectic dinner rush where a line cook can
each step compared to traditional quarry tile—meaning less stress on
accidentally kick up a mat corner and neglect to fix it. One hour later,
employees’ feet. With benefits that render a rubber mat redundant,
the head chef trips and is injured, resulting in $40,000 in workers’
dump those old, dirty mats and keep cruising on hygienic Altro safety
compensation and 1-2 weeks of absence. While this is due in part
flooring.
to human error, safety flooring makes having that mat useless and
should lead to its removal. Throwing it out removes any dangers
associated with accidental trips.
Unhygienic
If tripping hazards were not enough, rubber mats are an unhygienic
mess. Dirt, food, and grease routinely get mashed in and left until
the end of the shift, becoming caked into its pores, and the repeated
cleaning causes the mats to break down. Black rubber mats are also
ridden with bacteria—no chef or line cook would want such unhygienic
products in their kitchen without good reason. With Altro safety
flooring installed, there is no good reason.
Traditional quarry tile uses extremely porous Portland-cement
grout joints that are four times more absorbent than Altro flooring,
allowing for moisture to seep in and for bacteria to breed. Altro safety
flooring’s water-tight and impermeable surfaces limit bacteria buildup and block all water from getting underneath, keeping spills and
The holes in rubber mats can become caked with dirt,
grease, oil and food waste.
dirt on the surface. This makes for easy cleaning and less possible
contamination of surfaces—a leading cause of food poisoning in the
U.S2.
If a mat is required
If the commercial kitchen is subject to specific state or provincial
regulations that require the use of a rubber mat, even with slipresistant flooring installed, a vinyl-based product would be the best
alternative solution. The 3M Nomad Vinyl-backed Entrance Matting
Systems work well to prevent slips and falls in kitchens and do not
stain the floor coverings beneath them. More information about
3M and its entrance matting systems can be found here: http://
multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/528897O/cmc-catalogues.pdf.
Altro provides safe, hygienic solutions
Safety flooring, like Altro Stronghold 30, are durable and built for
heavy duty, 24/7 kitchens. With a 0.93 Static Coefficient of Friction
(SCoF) and 3mm thickness, this floor minimizes the risk of slips
Slips and falls are some of the most prevalent injuries in the
food service industry. Reduce the risk of slips by ditching
rubber mats in favor of safety flooring.
ADA recommends a 0.60 Static Coefficient of Friction level while OSHA recommends 0.50. Altro Stronghold 30 is rated at 0.92, more than 30 points above the recommended levels.
Contaminated surfaces can lead to salmonella and other virus or bacteria outbreaks, which are major causes of food poisoning.
1
2
For further information on Altro’s vast product range of interior finishes:
Tel: 800.377.5597 USA / 800.565.4658 CAN
Email: [email protected]
www.altro.com