The cleanliness of walls and floors is crucial to preventing infectious diseases.
And this is particularly pertinent to healthcare environments such as hospitals, where it’s reported that one in five patients will acquire an infection while being treated for something else.
It’s not just patients, however, who are at the mercy of accumulating bacteria in crowded, heavily-occupied areas.
Hospital staff also experience increased incidences of illness and infection and are continually at risk.
Germs are a fact of life in large public spaces; we don’t exist in a sanitised vacuum.
But their spread can be curtailed by choosing the right materials and cleaning products for a building’s fabric, particularly the flooring.
The main consideration for hospitals and care homes is to choose a floor that is easy to clean. And this is best achieved with the specification of a seamless system.
Germs are a fact of life in large public spaces. But their spread can be curtailed by choosing the right materials and cleaning products for a building’s fabric, particularly the flooring
Seams in flooring are areas where dirt can easily be attracted and stored, ultimately harvesting harmful bacteria and mould.
This, in a hospital environment, is a big issue because as little as 10 bacteria cells can cause illness.
A seamless, easy-to-clean floor eliminates and helps to prevent such build-ups.
The surface profile of a floor will impact on the type of cleaning regime.
For example, a smoothe floor will be far easier to clean than a broadcast aggregated finish, as the dirt pick-up will be minimal in comparison.
Therefore, the cleaning procedure and the substances used will depend on the hospital or care home’s requirements.
If, for instance, it is necessary for a floor to conform to the HSE slip-resistance guidelines (SRV/PTV >36 in both wet and dry) then the client will have to consider the ease with which the floor can be cleaned.
Broadcast aggregated flooring systems use a range of different quartz grain sizes - the greater the quartz size, the more chance the floor will pick up and retain dirt. This will make the surface harder to clean.
Sika ComfortFloor offer a seamless, high-performance alternative to traditional flooring.
Available in a wide range of colour options, odourless and solvent-free, the solution provides the ideal surface for public buildings such as hospitals.
Its smooth finish eliminates the growth or bacteria, using a simple, effective cleaning regime without the need for aggressive or harmful chemicals.
Furthermore, Sika ComfortFloor meets internationally-recognised, environmental-sustainability standards such as LEED and BREEAM.
This means its low VOC emissions contribute to healthier indoor quality, resulting in reduced impact on patients, staff and the hospital environment.
Although places of rest and recuperation, there should be no relaxing hospital hygiene standards that are designed to protect people when ill and at their most vulnerable.
Sika ComfortFloor’s seamless flooring range smooths largescale cleaning processes, leaving bugs and germs - which breed in cracks and crevices of traditional surfaces – with no place to hide.