Testing and contaminants
Food and drink preparation and cooking areas can spell danger. Grease, fat, cooking oil, flour, milk, food particles and the occasional chopped carrot – all can end up on floors and walls.
Altro’s sustainable, integrated safety flooring and hygienic wall cladding system provides long-lasting safe and hygienic surfaces for wet, dusty and greasy conditions in commercial kitchens.
Real world tests for real world conditions
The standard pendulum test for shod slip resistance uses water. Test results are rated with a PTV reading; a reading of PTV≥36 with Altro safety flooring represents a one in a million chance of slipping on a wet surface.
A wet surface only covered in clean water, that is.
You know that water only represents a small proportion of the hazards a kitchen worker would encounter on a daily basis. So we decided to put our flooring to a real world test; using a variety of different contaminants found in a commercial kitchen.
The reality is kitchen workers are busy. Oil evaporates into the air and settles on the floor when it cools – requiring constant cleaning to prevent a slippery surface. Small spills like milk or flour could cause a very real slip hazard.
A busy lunch hour would mean a lot of oil and cooking ingredients on the floor, and not enough time to keep the floor as clean and hazard-free as you would ideally like.
Covers don’t matter – contaminants do
Choosing your safety flooring by how many customers you serve a day doesn’t address the problems all kitchens share. Whether you are serving five or 500 customers a day, kitchens encounter the same types of contaminants.
The rules for health and safety don’t distinguish between small cafes and large five star restaurants –all are required to meet the same standards.
Because when it comes to safety, all commercial kitchens are the same.
What do you need and why?
Tests prove different contaminants pose different safety challenges. Whilst the risk from vegetable oil may come as no surprise, the other most significant danger comes from greasy water – and what kitchen can avoid that?
Typical contaminants in a kitchen are not water and motor oil, which is what the Pendulum and Ramp tests use.
The test we used was the standard PTV pendulum test BS7976, but instead of using only water as the test contaminant, we used a range of other contaminants found in a typical kitchen.
This graph shows test results carried out on Altro Stronghold 30 with common kitchen contaminants, including:
- cooking oils
- greasy water from washing up
- milk, flour, plastic wrap
Altro kitchens solutions retains a one in a million chance of slipping with a variety of kitchen contaminants.
These contaminants are generally more viscous or substantial than water, creating a thicker layer between floor and shoe.
This squeeze film thickness prevents the foot making contact with the floor and increases the risk of slipping.
This table shows how the performance across floors with different pendulum and R ratings perform with the different contaminants.
In commercial kitchens where vegetable oil and greasy water are likely to be present, only Altro Stronghold 30 gives a one in a million chance of slipping.
The test results prove:
- Altro Stronghold 30 has the required slip resistance to keep you safe with the range of contaminants illustrated including cooking oils and greasy water which would typically be found in a commercial kitchen
- Altro Stronghold 30 retains a one in a million chance of slipping with common kitchen contaminants
- You must choose your flooring to cater for contaminants, and not the size of your kitchen or number of covers
Not all safety flooring is as safe as Altro’s. Some floorings only have a thin slip-resistant coating or emboss, which can easily wear away. Some floorings only provide slip resistance in dry conditions. Altro Stronghold 30 has sustained slip resistance, for the wet and dry contaminants commonly found in kitchens.
Altro Stronghold 30 safety flooring gives you peace of mind, allowing you to keep up with the pace of your business without having to compromise on safety.
Altro commercial kitchen solutions: we’ve got you covered.
For more information, visit http://www.altro.co.uk/Commercial-Kitchens