One ‘slip up’ with your flooring could cause injury, and cost you H&S fines, lost productivity and a dented reputation. Yet the best anti-slip roll paves the way for better floor safety.
Accidents involving wet, greasy or sticky floors can be costly, but preventable. They contribute to the biggest cause of workplace injuries – trips, slips and falls – and therefore to absenteeism and millions of pounds of lost revenue for the UK economy.
They can also damage your reputation as an employer and a supplier, particularly if you fail a Health & Safety inspection for something so easy to guard against.
It is certainly an issue the HSE ‘comes down hard on’. It covers it extensively in its ‘Getting to grips with slips and trips’ guidelines.
One of the most valuable safety products you can buy to prevent this type of accident is a humble but effective anti-slip roll. This ingenious self-adhesive tape costs very little, but creates a reliable surface underfoot, even in challenging work environments.
However, knowing the best version to specify, and where to apply an anti-slip roll in your workplace helps in optimising all the advantages it provides.
Features that ‘mark out’ anti-slip roll
You can buy various types of floor markings, and some may claim to provide a reasonable amount of traction for foot traffic. However, there are important design aspects that set anti-slip roll apart from other floor tapes.
This includes the fact the tape is made from a specially manufactured thick carrier that’s been combined with diamond-hard aluminium oxide. This is a proven combination to create a highly effective slip prevention surface.
The adhesive used also needs to be a specialist type, that creates a reliable, pressure-sensitive fix without damaging the surface beneath.
This sort of tape is also hard, durable and water-resistant. Adding to its value as a safety product in areas where there is excessive moisture.
Make sure the product you buy also has the ability to create an anti-slip surface where grease and other floor pollutants can settle, and in areas where there could be extremes in temperature.
Anti-slip roll performance measures
Buying the best anti-slip tape for commercial floors doesn’t need to involve great expense, but it does ‘pay’ to only purchase quality versions. Leading anti-slip roll brands can be used in a multitude of both internal and external locations, for example.
Also, you need a safety tape product that adheres to concrete, tarmac and other common flooring materials, easily and completely. It must stand up to considerable wear and tear. This can be vital, as slip prevention tape that frays, peels back or lifts too easily not only fails to do its job, it could present a trip hazard too!
Plus, finding a supplier of reliable anti-slip roll ensures you don’t have to replace your floor markings and surface layers too often. Saving time and money.
Anti-slip roll added bonuses
The best anti-slip tape rolls are also multi-purpose. For example, tape in the universal warning colours of yellow and black flags up high-risk areas in your workplace.
Or, you can use floor tape that’s anti-slip as a directional and segregation aid, marking out pedestrian boundaries or indicating the edge of steps, curbs and other structures. Anti-slip rolls even offer a way to mark out safe manoeuvring areas for off-road vehicles in warehouses, for example.
Planning taped floor areas
As this is such a low cost but high-value safety product, you don’t need to be frugal in your usage.
Your latest workplace risk assessment may well suggest areas that need anti-slip tape replacement, or new risks from wet or polluted floors. This is especially true in the winter months when feet can drag in moisture and debris.
Find anti-slip rolls in different widths, so you can fit it easily into a variety of different locations, including thinner tapes for steps or tight spaces. Another example would be sourcing wider anti-slip tape rolls to mark out high-risk walkways, where a fall could put a pedestrian into traffic, or some other workplace danger.
Don’t forget the best anti-slip rolls come in different colour choices too, so you can vary their use and safety ‘signals’.
Beaverswood supplies a range of anti-slip roll widths, in Black/Yellow, Yellow, Black, Green and Grey.
We also sell clear anti-slip tape for when aesthetics matter, but you still need to keep people’s feet stable. Such as in foyers and entrances, or on potentially slippy areas within public buildings.
Do you need made-to-order anti-slip rolls, in a particular width or colour?
Get in touch with Beaverswood’s versatile customer service team, to get a firm hold on your floor surfaces.
