The Benefits of Rubber Flooring

SALEM, N.H Facility managers and building owners of health care facilities are tasked with ensuring an environment that is conducive to the health and safety of staff and patients. This means selecting materials and maintaining them in ways that promote a healthy, comfortable and productive environment in which to work and heal. Rubber flooring can help with ergonomic benefits that enhance workplace safety and productivity.

Comfort Underfoot Reduces Strain

As shown on StandingShoes.net, proper footwear can help reduce some of the harmful effects of prolonged standing and walking but softer, resilient rubber floor coverings also offer an important weapon in the battle against muscle fatigue and aching backs, legs and feet. Its content (high-quality industrial and natural rubber) and structure make rubber flooring especially resilient, easing the stress of walking and standing as it ensures comfort underfoot and allows staff to concentrate on the work at hand rather than the pain in their feet.

This same resiliency makes it easier for staff to move carts, wheelchairs and other pieces of equipment across rooms and down hallways. At the same time, it offers important slip resistant properties to staff and patients alike. This is especially critical in orthopedic, geriatric and rehabilitative areas of healthcare facilities. In addition, the resiliency of rubber flooring can provide a softer landing than other floor coverings and minimize the impact of a fall or misstep.

Simple Maintenance Saves Time and Money

Rubber floorings dense, non-porous surface resists chemicals and disinfectants, such as betadine. Most spills can be removed easily without residual staining. When it is time to clean the floor, the regimen can be as simple as using a mop and little more than water. Harsh cleaning chemicals are not required. Nor are waxes, speciality coatings, and strippers. You could visit Vacuumshop to find reviews of the best steam mops, which you could use to clean it if there has been a big spill or if it has muddy footprints all over it. This is important because steam mops differ greatly in how good they are. Clearly, if you are going to use a steam mop, you will want to know the best steam mop so that it actually cleans the floor and isn’t just pushing the dirt around. This light cleaning eliminates the need for labor-intensive stripping and re-coating, which saves money on fewer cleaning products and reduced labor hours. Meanwhile, the floors naturally bacteriostatic and fungistatic properties continue to inhibit the growth of bacteria and help meet the stringent hygienic requirements of healthcare facilities.

The floors simple cleaning regimen also means that large areas of a facility do not need to be removed from service while wax is applied and allowed to dry. This is especially important in busy health care facilities that operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it translates to fewer, less intrusive interruptions for patients and the medical personnel treating them.

No Fumes Means Better Indoor Air Quality
Additionally, the absence of fumes associated with harsh cleaning products, waxes and sealants contribute to improved indoor air quality (IAQ), as does the absence of PVCs, plasticizers or halogens in the flooring. This, in turn, helps create an environment that safeguards the health of staff and promotes healing, especially for patients suffering from respiratory conditions and allergies.

The floor also offers healthcare facilities a durable solution, even as heavy equipment and furnishings are moved regularly and foot traffic is often heavy. In fact, rubber flooring can have an extended life cycleas long as 30 yearswhich reduces the need for frequent removal and disposal and delivers long-term savings.

In addition, rubber flooring provides electrostatic dissipative properties that protect a hospitals investment in sensitive instruments and electronic equipment, eliminating malfunctions or damage caused by electrostatic charges.

Quiet Encourages Concentration and Healing

All of this equipment, as well as the hustle and bustle of a busy health care facility, can create a noisy environment one with the potential to distract staff members and prevent patients from getting the rest they need. The noise abatement properties of rubber flooring can address issues related to noise. In fact, rubber floor coverings have been shown to attenuate 70 percent of unwanted noise and absorb as much as 17 decibels of sound. The result is a staff better able to concentrate on the work before them and patients better able to sleep.

Design Promotes Healing and Pleasant Working Environment

The appearance of floor coverings can also impact patients and staff. For example, a soft, warm color palette in patient rooms and recovery areas can help reassure and relax the patient. On the other hand, areas geared toward children often rely on bright colors and accents to stimulate and excite young patients. Rubber floor coverings are available in a variety of colors, textures and patterns, making it easy to create an inviting and calming atmosphere for patients and staff while incorporating colorful accents and inlays that can enhance a design, provide important wayfinding or serve as teaching tools. Whats more, the floors versatility in performance and design promotes transition from one area of a facility to another and supports a comprehensive and coordinated design that minimizes a building owners investment in multiple flooring products with different maintenance requirements, performance features and longevity claims.

Tasha Hughes is the marketing specialist for Nora Systems Inc.