Original article by Christa Larsen, Product Marketing Manager

What do Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, Kaiser Permanente Health Systems and Dell Children’s Hospital have in common? They chose a high-quality, permanent entrance flooring system to keep their building entrances clean and create a positive first impression for all those who enter their facilities.

Hospitals today are faced with many challenges. The Affordable Care Act has implemented patient satisfaction surveys which directly affect the amount of reimbursements healthcare facilities receive. So, what can a healthcare facility do to leave a great lasting impression on its patients as well as cut down on maintenance costs? They can utilize permanent entrance mats or grids. Facility branding can even be incorporated by placing a logo on the system, especially at main entrances.

Facilities see heavy foot traffic coming through the doors each day. Along with that foot traffic comes dirt, and dirty floors may suggest a dirty hospital. 95 percent of this debris is tracked in from the outside. Entrance mats and grids can effectively stop the dirt, water and foreign contaminants from entering a building. When these contaminants are trapped at the door, the Hospital Environmental Services (EVS) will spend less time cleaning the floors and more time maintaining and sterilizing other areas of the hospital. Entrance mats and grids not only remove excess dirt and debris off the pedestrian’s shoes but can also remove moisture. Excess water that is not removed at the door can be a potential slip hazard. Incorporating this kind of flooring product in a building’s main entrances will allow your finished floors to stay cleaner and reduce the chance of slip and fall occurrences.

As you begin to look at the different types of available products, you will want to ensure that your selection meets ADA requirements. Entrance mats and grids are recommended to meet a 0.60 static coefficient of friction for slip resistance. ADA requirements also limit the system’s holes or grooves to ½” diameter sphere. This requirement is primarily designed to help protect the handicapped or elderly who may be using a cane or walker. ADA also requires that the transition between the finished floor and the entrance mat or grid not exceed ¼”. This will make certain that the product is not a tripping hazard, which protects building users and reduces facility liabilities.

When you are evaluating the wide variety of entrance mats and grids on the market today, you will want to consider the cost, installation and maintenance of each available product. It is not enough to only install these products in your facility and leave them to function, as they will need to be cleaned regularly to keep them working properly. Entrance mats and grids should be included in a regular maintenance schedule. These systems are designed to roll back or lift so that the captured dirt can be easily vacuumed out of the area.

Entrance mats and grids have many benefits when it comes to cleaning feet and safely reducing slips and falls, but choosing the right system also means choosing products that fit the building’s decor and desired image. The very first product a building’s user sees when entering a healthcare facility is the entrance mat or grid, so it is important for building owners to create that positive first impression. As they say, you only get one chance to make a first impression, so consider investing in products and materials that are both beautiful and functional.

Christa's article appears in The Flooring Contractor's Summer 2018 issue, pp. 28.

Read the full issue here.