Protect Yourself with Anti-Slip Flooring

Using a non-slip mat or traction-boosting flooring can be the key to keeping your feet under you and avoiding slip and fall accidents. Some floors can be dangerous, especially when they are wet. For some people, who are perhaps less mobile than others, even a dry surface or staircase can bring about serious dangers. But for most, a slick and slippery surface creates a substantial risk and provides the leading cause of slip and fall accidents. Flooring types such as tile, laminate and wood can all pose a footing threat when exposed to moisture. This is where rubber anti-slip flooring comes in, adding an extremely effective solution.

When it comes to suffering slip and fall accidents, the absolute best-case scenario is an embarrassing tumble. But the result can easily be far worse, resulting in a significant injury, a liability risk or just damage to the flooring surface. According to the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), falls are the greatest cause of emergency room visits, accounting for more than 8 million every year. Of those, more than 1 million are caused by slips. Fractures are suffered by 5% of people injured in falls, and a staggering number of people aged over 65 sustain serious injuries or die as a result of falls every year. (https://nfsi.org/nfsi-research/quick-facts/)

But using anti-slip mats or flooring can dramatically improve on safety and reduce the risk of slip and fall accidents. A non-slip mat or anti-slip flooring can come in many different forms, but all of the products are designed to add traction and make your underfoot surfaces safer. There are several areas that are more prone to moisture than others. As a result, these settings carry a greater risk of slip and fall accidents and injuries. Rooms such as kitchens and bathrooms, outdoor walkways and stairs can all provide substantial risk. But a non-slip mat, rubber treads for the stairs, rubber kitchen flooring, rubber bathroom tiles, a drain mat or a non-slip runner can all provide excellent safety-boosting solutions in various locations and situations.

A non-slip mat made from rubber offers exceptional traction that greatly reduces the risk of slip and fall accidents. This is partly due to rubber having an excellent coefficient of friction, giving you natural grip and effective anti-slip flooring. Rubber even retains this level of grip when it’s wet, making it especially effective. But beyond the traction offered by the material, the design of a non-slip mat plays a crucial part in its function.

Anti-slip mats and anti-slip flooring for the kitchen will come in different forms. Many people install a full rubber flooring roll in their kitchen, which protects the entire surface and makes it safe from slip accidents. But for those who don’t want to lay an entirely new rubber kitchen floor, a non-slip mat will often achieve the desired effect. These kitchen mats might have a textured surface to provide extra traction, such as patterned grooves. Another kitchen flooring solution is a rubber drain mat. A drain mat helps to reduce the chances of slip and fall accidents occurring by filtering slippery liquids away from a flooring surface through drainage holes in the mat.

A type of drainage-improving non-slip mat can also be used in walkways or entranceways, and this is typically referred to as a non-slip runner. A runner mat will provide surface protrusions which act as scrapers, cleaning shoes of dirt, debris and moisture as people walk over them. In doing so, it provides anti-slip flooring in two ways – removing moisture and reducing the slip risk associated with it, and providing edges for shoes to find traction with.

Rubber treads also offer a customized version of a non-slip mat made specifically for stairs. The stairs can be perilous, forming a prime spot for slip and fall accidents, even when they are not wet. Rubber treads come in the form of narrower non-slip rubber strips, which provide grip on each individual step. These individual anti-slip mats often have attractive pattern protrusions, making them aesthetically pleasing enough to be placed inside a home and offering an extra level of grip.

A non-slip mat or flooring option provides really secure footing and a high level of protection against slip and fall accidents. Whether you opt for bathroom tiles to safeguard your bathroom, a drain mat or rubber kitchen floor, any of these products can help all ages in a wide variety of scenarios and settings. The best way to steer clear of becoming just another statistic on the scary list of slip and fall accidents is by making use of a non-slip mat.