Healthcare facilities have the responsibility to help cure patients and improve their health. Along with doctors and medical staff, the facilities managers are required to maintain a healthy and safe atmosphere inside their premises. These facilities sometimes work to a tight budget therefore minimising any unnecessary overheads will ultimately mean better distribution of funds for an improved health care institution. So how does Entrance Matting help achieve safety and reduce costs for the hospitals? In this blog we will try to answer these questions.

Advantages of Using Entrance Matting

We all know healthcare facilities are a highly sterile environments and they have an obligation to maintain this high level of hygiene. One way to do this is to have rigorous cleaning rota, however by tackling dirt head on and stopping it at the first point of its entry is not only more effective but also from a cost perspective highly advantageous.

By using suitable Entrance Matting, the ingress of foot and wheel bourn dirt is prevented. This increases the longevity of the flooring beyond as it remains clean and also increases the safety of its occupants. 90% of slips and trips occur on wet and contaminated flooring, effective Entrance Matting significantly reduces the ingress of soil and moisture and ensures safe access for every visitor. As mentioned above, the cleaning costs is also reduced.

The Entrance Matting itself should be easy to clean and maintain, when it comes to hospitals this is imperative. By installing a flexible system that can be easily lifted from the matwell and steamed/pressure washed can be hugely beneficial.

Factors That Affect What Entrance Matting to Choose

We need look at the different factors that go into selecting an Entrance Matting:

• Volume of Traffic: for a hospital, this can be high with a regular flow 24/7 so the matting needs to be durable and work in these conditions.
• Type of Traffic: Entrance Matting at a hospital is subject to different types of traffic, ranging from foot to wheeled traffic (wheelchairs, stretchers etc.) Therefore, it needs to be able to handle this stress and perform every time.
• The External Environment: often in hospitals, there are exposed areas with hard surfaces so the matting needs to work even in inclement weather conditions.
• The Internal Environment; The internal flooring can vary from hard tiles to carpeted surface, if dirt enters this can pose a massive safety risk to its patients, visitors and staff. The matting needs to trap this dirt and prevent it from dragging to the flooring beyond.

What Entrance Matting to Choose?

It is recommended that a system with high quality Aluminium or hardwearing PVC is used for Entrance Matting. To combat the dirt a range of durable inserts such a rubber and high-quality fibre should be used. For external areas, we recommend matting with rubber inserts, and as we move into internal environment, combination of rubber and fibre inserts can function just as effectively.

Having the knowledge of choosing the right Entrance Matting for your facilities means safety is maintained for visitors, staff and its patients and the hospital aesthetics remain intact. View our previous case studies in this sector and find out more about the benefits of using Entrance Matting for healthcare facilities. Or Contact Us to discuss your next Entrance Matting Requirements.