Built environment specifiers should reconsider approaches to safety flooring when designing for aged care facilities, says global flooring company Tarkett.
The traditional look and feel of safety flooring often requires specifiers to compromise on desired aesthetics. But thanks to next generation transparent particles, Tarkett’s Safetred Design collections create limitless options for interiors while ensuring the same safety performance.
Developed with architects, designers and end users in mind, the Safetred Design collections offer a wide range of surface visuals and colours to choose from, including beautiful wood grain, a welcoming textile line and the realism of natural stone, making it possible to create an ‘at home’ environment everywhere.
Challenging the ‘institutional’ look and feel of safety floors
Traditional safety flooring has a ‘speckled’ appearance - these black specks are very hard particles called silicon carbide, which ensure that slip resistance does not diminish over time. From a visual point of view, this is often a source of frustration for architects and designers, as it means placing limits on creativity.
To address this, Tarkett’s Safetred Design ranges use a transparent particle called aluminium oxide, which has the same resistance properties but is invisible. This product innovation allows Tarkett to offer a wide selection of designs without neglecting safety: the result is a proven, sustainably slip resistant floor which meets the requirements of the manufacturing standard, EN 13845.
Designed for aged care facilities
According to the NHS, in the UK, falls are the most common cause of injury and related deaths in people over the aged of 75, so the importance of correctly specifying safety flooring in aged care facilities cannot be overstated.
With a wide range of patterns and low contrast designs available that have been approved by the Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC), the Safetred Design ranges allow specifiers to select beautiful combinations that aid spatial awareness and way finding for those living with dementia or visual impairments. The collections allow designers to create a domestic look and feel, which enhances wellbeing for occupants.
Closing the loop
The products created for the collections are not only beautiful on the outside but beautiful on the inside. Traditionally, safety floors have been problematic in terms of recycling due to the nature of the aluminium oxide or carborundum inherent in them, however the ReStartÒ programme is able to extract these particles for down-cycling so more of the product can be utilised. Safetred is produced using up to 40% of recycled content, and can be recycled via the Tarkett ReStartÒ programme.
Elizabeth Butcher, Segment Marketing Manager – Healthcare, Tarkett said, “Aged care facilities need flooring designs and patterns that keep anxiety at an all-time low for some of our most vulnerable in society. The Safetred collections offer beautiful designs that have been DSDC approved. We would encourage specifiers to rethink safety flooring and explore the possibilities that these ranges offer.”
