Polysafe Ultima – the safety floor designed to suit specification into extremely demanding application areas, offering enhanced slip resistance throughout the guaranteed life of the product.
Where is it used?
Typically used in busy food preparation areas and commercial kitchens, Ultima is ideal in heavily trafficked areas, where high risks of oil and grease spillages demand a floor that performs day in, day out. In areas where a high number of meals are served each day and the floor is subjected to frenetic use, Ultima is ideal to give user confidence and minimize slip risk in these extremely tough conditions.
Polysafe Ultima is a top performer in many heavy-duty commercial areas because of its uniquely engineered
surface, with an emboss that facilitates straightforward maintenance. This is combined with a high surface roughness, allowing slip resistance to be maintained in the face of high viscosity contaminants.
4 steps to safety
1. Ultima achieves a result of 40+ on the RRL Pendulum Test in wet conditions using Four S rubber/Slider 96, a HSE recommended test for measuring a floor’s slip resistance, in-situ.
2. Polysafe Ultima has a unique Surface Roughness, giving typical results of Rz ³70μm and therefore suitable for areas encountering oil and grease spillage. Fully compliant with HSE Guidance, Ultima’s pendulum and surface roughness results classify the product as low slip potential. Independent test certificates are available from Polyflor on request.
3. Sustainable slip resistance – the enhanced level of slip resistance is governed by an increased level of aggregates applied within the product – this is from a concentrated amount of coloured quartz, aluminium oxide and silicon carbide, increasing the friction between the foot and floor.
Due to these aggregates being applied throughout the full product thickness, this slip resistance is sustainable and can be maintained throughout the guaranteed life of the product, giving that added reassurance over a number of years.
It is always advisable to be wary of manufacturers claiming slip resistant performance solely to an R value on the Ramp Test (DIN 51130) and not Pendulum and Surface Roughness tests. The Ramp Test does not give a true reflection of in-situ performance as the procedure can only be undertaken ex-factory and cannot be replicated on-site.
4. Proven cleanability – Time and time again, Ultima installations have shown that the flooring in these testing environments can be cleaned without difficulty, using a regular maintenance regime involving a neutral detergent.
Ultimate solution
In the kitchen area of the hospital, there is a requirement for large numbers of meals to be prepared for long hours each day, both to hospital café visitors and patients. In this high pressure environment, with lots of movement and turning between work stations, the choice of flooring specified was extremely important in order to minimize the risk of slipping for workers.
An initial risk assessment undertaken by the Estates Department identified that due to the various factors such as the type of environment and the likely regular presence of oil and grease contamination,
Polysafe Ultima was the ideal specification choice. Offering enhanced slip resistance, being fully HSE compliant and able to cope with the expected levels of spillage, Ultima is tried and tested to give its users confidence in this challenging environment.
Kitchen Environment
The kitchen area houses a large number of industrial cooking equipment within a relatively confined area, with a variety of grills, fryers and ovens used to create a large number of meals – over a 100 per day. Preparation of meals involves a number of staff working quickly at the same time, with the intense daily routines creating plenty of movement over the floor.
Oil and grease contamination is a daily occurrence from the fryers and grills and this challenge is dealt with by a combination of good extraction, diligent cleaning and the high surface roughness of Ultima, which gives an enhanced slip resistant surface.
Slip resistance and in-situ
HSE Compliance
In order to demonstrate the slip resistance claims made on the Ultima product are sustainable in use at the hospital and adhere to HSE Guidance, an exercise was undertaken to test the floor in-situ, using the methods favoured by the HSE – the RRL Pendulum wet test and Surface Roughness test. These tests were carried out by a trained operator in strict adherence to the BS 7976 standard, using the protocols described in the UK Slip Resistance Group Guidelines 2005.
Tested after a busy period of food preparation, the floor area was swept and then tested, before the daily maintenance regime had been undertaken. The area was then cleaned and the tests repeated.
Firstly, the RRL Pendulum test was carried out in the wet condition, using a Four S rubber/Slider 96 and using the recommended slider preparation techniques. A mean average result of over 40 was achieved after 5 swings of the pendulum had been undertaken, both before and after the floor was cleaned by hospital staff.
A surface roughness meter was also used on the floor surface to determine the micro roughness of the flooring, with a mean value of several peak to valley measurements being electronically calculated on the floor surface. In both tests before and after cleaning, the mean average of the top three results gave readings of over 70 microns to meet HSE Guidelines. This means that the flooring has sufficient roughness to lower the slip potential in the presence of highly viscous contaminants commonly found in the kitchen, such as olive oil, cooking stock and margarine.
Using these slip test results in conjunction with each other, it can be shown that the floorcovering is fully HSE compliant and has sustainable slip resistance in use. According to HSE classifications, Polysafe Ultima is therefore positioned as low slip potential.
Cleaning
Many kitchens are maintained in a traditional manner, with the daily use of a mop and bucket system.
This involves the use of neutral detergent diluted with water to the recommended levels. On a weekly basis, maintenance is also undertaken via a mechanical scrubbing machine.
Polysafe Ultima does not require any special maintenance regime, although a dedicated cleaning procedure needs to be in place. For further cleaning guidance and recommended maintenance products, contact Polyflor’s Customer Technical Services Team on +27 11 609 3500. Alternatively, maintenance sheets are available directly from the Polyflor
Summary
For areas where the outcome of a risk assessment demands a floorcovering that can cope with exacting conditions and frequent, high viscosity contaminants, Ultima is the answer to retain underfoot safety and lower slippotential.
Ideally placed as a tough performer within the safety flooring market, Ultima’s sustainable slip resistant surface gives extra durability for years of performance – and a complete piece of mind specification.
Why Ultima?
• Sustainable slip resistance ³ 40 RRL Pendulum wet test (Four S rubber /Slider 96) assured throughout the guaranteed life of the product
• Surface roughness – typical result of over Rz 70μm – to deal with oil and grease spillages
• Simple maintenance
• Flexible for ease of installation, coving and welding – can be seam-welded to achieve an impervious and hygienic finish
• 10 year assurance of product performance, independently assessed by the British Board of Agrément
website on: www.polyflor.com.
