The Good and Bad of Surface Preparation

If you are a fan of the winter Olympics, you’ve probably noticed how much attention is placed on preparing the sliding surfaces of skis and snowboards. How important is it? Cross country ski teams bring their own dedicated waxing teams with formulas so secret they refer to them by code names over the radio. When you see an athlete glide past another competitor as they go down a hill or steadily charge up a hill with gripping skis, that’s great wax work at play. So, is it important? Definitely! Properly maintaining and preparing skis for a particular environment and use can make the difference between winning and losing.

Therefore it should come as no big surprise that floor maintenance in a building or store can play just as important of a role. Flooring is not simply installed and forgotten about with the expectation that it will behave the same forever. With the original tiles repeatedly cleaned and polished over time, the floor changes. The slip resistance of the original floor is greatly affected by what products are used on it and how they are applied. Just like the Olympic waxing teams take snow conditions into consideration when deciding which wax formula to use on skis, businesses need to consider the performance of their floors in how they are going to be used in both wet and dry conditions.

If a slip and fall accident does occur, the conditions and properties of the floor can change quickly with continued usage and its associative wear and/or additional maintenance. Thus it is important to have an expert check the slip resistance of the incident area as soon as possible.

Now get out there and win the gold whether it is downhill skiing or simply returning safely from the grocery store!

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