Slipping up on regulations

Adam Clements, Bjorn Hegstad

Adam Clements and Bjørn Hegstad look at the most cost effective ways to stay compliant with current flooring legislation.

“'My floor is my money machine,' said one client, 'from the moment I cannot work on the floor, I cannot earn money'”
-Bjorn Hegstad

“My floor is my money machine,” said one client, “from the moment I cannot work on the floor, I cannot earn money”. In these hard economic times, we are all looking to save money. But sometimes saving a few pounds in the short term can cost an awful lot more long term. The EU regulation on the hygiene of foodstuffs states that “floor surfaces are to be maintained in a sound condition and be easy to clean and, where necessary to disinfect. This will require the use of impervious, non-absorbent, washable and non-toxic materials.” This means that anywhere food is prepared, treated or processed, floors need to permit good food hygiene practice offering ease of cleaning and protection against contamination, between and during operations.

Floors can therefore often be seen as a necessary evil as without them hygiene inspectors will not allow production. It is tempting to pick the cheapest option to satisfy the inspectors and comply with regulations. However poor quality floors not only lack performance, but will also require sustained maintenance.

Cheap epoxies and PUs often wear badly in wet and heavily trafficked areas, and cracks in the surface will often lead to delamination and the systems inherently contain micro-pores and pinholes. Acrylic floors degrade over time and become spongy and porous. These areas need repairing to comply with EU regulations and will often be picked up during hygiene inspections. However, patching floors inevitably lead to further failures as each cut in a floor becomes a cold joint, which can also be described as a crack that allows water access to the bond line and promotes delamination. This patch will then need re-doing later on, and so the cycle continues. Floor wears. Patch repaired. Patch repaired again slightly larger. And so on, until the floor looks like a patchwork quilt and aesthetics demand the whole room re-done.

The cost of the patches may not be much materially, but the shutdown time soon adds up. Planning and logistics, extra shift work leading up to and after the works, loss of production, post operation cleaning and post work cleaning. With epoxy floors taking up to 14 days to fully cure, that’s a lot of shutdown to ensure the floor repair achieves full strength. In reality, most people begin operations far too early and water will damage the chemical cure process, thus weakening the floor repair further. Although PU floors cure within three days, this is often still too long. The acrylic floors have an advantage here with their two-hour cure, but the area still needs shutting down or clearing sufficiently. By paying for a quality flooring system, these repairs and shutdowns will be minimal, leaving you compliant and in production for longer periods and ultimately saving money.

Another way of preventing cross contamination or to improve microbial counts within the factory is to add an anti-microbial agent to the floor, and lots of manufacturers are offering this option. There are many types on the market, from biocides like Microban, to active ions like silver. All will have some effect, but again some are better than others. Active ions and particles are simply stirred into the resin before application. This leaves them randomly distributed across the surface, and the evenness relies on the correct mixing ratio and thoroughness.

Certain biocides, however, are added to the flooring resins during manufacture. Microban for example is added at the polymerisation stage, and the particles actually disperse and migrate “inter-molecularly” around the resin. Only this type can be certified, as there will be a known amount in any given section of flooring. This certification can allow you to sell at the same or a higher price than your competition. For example Noons Foods in Southall, London - a manufacturer of ready meals - chose Microban enriched floors over their whole facility. This enabled them to win a lucrative contract with Sainsbury’s – without competing on price.

However it is also important to note that anti-microbial flooring is not a substitute for good hygiene. The floors are designed to reduce peak microbial loads between washes, and not replace washing. So it is still important to have a floor that can be easily cleaned, one without pinholes, pores or abrasion.

Another area that is vitally important is slip resistance. HSE have updated their slip resistance guidelines in its Food Information Sheet No 22. Their previous coefficient of friction (CofF) guideline of 0.36 was updated. While the limit remains, what they now state is that consideration must be given to the likely contamination. Too often products are checked for slip resistance in the dry and wet only. If a floor is to be used in a food factory, it needs to have a CofF of over 0.36 with oils and fats or product on the floor. Supermarkets need to think about their slip resistance with grapes (far more slippery than bananas contrary to popular belief). Engineering workshops need to test with oil etc.

HSE recently published a case study on one accident. A kitchen worker slipped over and fractured her skull. The resulting injuries were severe and meant that she was unlikely to work again. HSE ended up prosecuting the employer, and the company was ordered to pay over €40,667 including prosecution costs. On hearing the case the District Judge said: “This was a very serious accident, one which was wholly preventable. Every employer has a duty under law to protect its employees from physical harm – something that [the company] blatantly failed to do. There had been four similar accidents in their kitchen during the previous 12 months, yet they still failed to act.”

The inspector served an Improvement Notice on the company to require them to deal with the slip risks to employees. After a number of other options were considered by the company, but concluded to be inadequate or inappropriate, they eventually replaced the floor surface with one that was suitable for use in an area where the total elimination of floor contaminants would never be possible. The new floor was specified to provide enough grip, even in wet or contaminated conditions.

The current recognised slip resistance test is the Pendulum Test as developed especially for HSE by Sheffield Laboratories. Ensure your flooring manufacturer has HSE approved slip results for their flooring and can prove that even with your likely contamination, the floor will remain above legal guidelines. It is wise to test your current floors as well, as many floors often considered compliant could now fall foul of these updated regulations. Please remember that almost everything you do in your factory will take place on a floor of some kind. Therefore it is vitally important to consider all the implications and lifetime costs of that floor, and how it may impact on future operations.

AcryliCon floors comply with current EU regulations, and we have EEC and FDA approval for contact with food. Microban can be added to the system, which is already the easiest to clean flooring on the market. With a proven lifespan of over 30 years, high compressive strength and excellent wear resistance, AcryliCon is fast becoming the safe choice in flooring. AcryliCon has offices across the globe, from the US to China. Please see our website for details of your nearest office.

Biography

Bjørn Hegstad, is a chemical engineer and President of AcryliCon. He has made the challenges of industrial flooring his own and dealt with and solved these challenges during his 30 years of experience and expertise. He has developed and established AcryliCon in Norway, Sweden, Finland, England, Ireland, Middle East, Canada, USA and internationally to deal with contracts outside our established areas.