Eliminating slip and fall risks is a common consideration among facility and property managers as they choose the right flooring for their facility. After the January 2017 effective date of OSHA 1910.21 subpart D, Walking-Working Surfaces and Personal Protective Equipment (Fall Protection Systems), the trend to choose textured stone and other floor surfaces and finishes has increased. The updated law is designed to, “help prevent and reduce workplace slips, trips, and falls, as well as other injuries and fatalities associated with walking-working surface hazards.” Under 1920.21, OSHA defines general industry workplaces walking-working surfaces as floors, stairways, steps and aisles, among other horizontal, vertical and inclined or angled surfaces.[i]

Proper maintenance and care of all surfaces, including textured floors, in a facility will help decrease slips and falls.

Textured Floors – Still a Good Option

Textured granite is one of the most popular textured stone surfaces found in commercial facilities. Textured floors provide a desired level of traction, but many facility managers and designers don’t realize the texture adds to cleaning and appearance headaches and potential safety issues.

Textured floors hold more dirt than smooth floors because there are more nooks and crevices for dirt to hide. It’s important to make sure your surface care provider knows how to routinely care for, and proactively maintain, all areas of your textured floors. If not cleaned properly, textured floors present additional challenges in keeping them clean for an extended amount of time.

Flooring Appearance and Maintenance Go Hand-in-Hand

Appearance is important, but even more so is safety. When cleaning chemicals are misused or applied incorrectly to textured floors, detergent, grease, oil and dirt can build up and bond to the surface— this is called plasticization within the industry. Once plasticization has occurred, cleaning materials can continue to bond to the surface, making it incredibly hard to clean. When a floor with plasticization gets wet, it becomes slippery, which is exactly the opposite of the purpose of a textured floor.

For those wanting textured or stone floors, there are still options. Stone adds a level of quality and increases the overall image of an area. Almost any floor will look more expensive, and more impressive if it’s made of stone. But after the decision to use high-quality materials comes the choice in maintaining them.

Surface care experts will be able to look at stone flooring—smooth or textured—and know what to do. From initial cleaning to long-term preventative maintenance, the expert craftsmen and women at SOLID Surface Care know that your floors are important to your business and your company’s culture. By trusting a highly-qualified surface care company with your floors, you will look like a facility management hero in your organization.

Contact the SOLID team anytime at solidcare.com/contact or 844-227-6543 ext 3.

[i] https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/federalregister/2016-11-18