Is Poured-In-Place Rubber Safety Surfacing Safe?

Poured in place rubber safety surfacing is an excellent alternative to traditional surfaces that you find at pools, gyms, workspaces, offices, other types of work facilities and all types of public areas. Concrete and other hard floorings surfaces are standard across industries and in various locations and businesses. The downside of these course surfaces is that they don’t provide any protection when it comes to tripping, slipping and falling. In fact, hard concrete, tile, and laminate surfaces and floors scrapes, scratches, bruises and serious injuries depending on how you fall and how high you fall from.

Thankfully, rubber safety surfacing provides a much safer alternative for surfacing and flooring. These pliable rubber surfaces are soft and help to absorb the impact from a fall to reduce the blunt force when you hit the ground. A question that we get a lot about poured-in-place (PIP) rubber safety surfacing is “are they actually safe?”

Is it Safe for Falls if Someone Trips?

Some of the most frequent questions that people ask us about are in regards to the safety of poured-in-place rubber safety surfacing. Specifically, if it will actually keep you safe and protected if you are to trip and fall.

One of the greatest aspects of our pourable safety surfacing is that it can easily be poured over existing asphalt or concrete surfaces. Not only is this a major cost saver, in that you don’t have to tear up and remove an existing surface, but also saves you hours, days, and even weeks’ worth of work. The newly poured surface will cover the existing cracks that you had in your asphalt, concrete or any other kind of surface that you pour it over. It can also cover raised, cracked pieces of hard surfaces where someone could trip, to completely eliminate any tripping hazards without having to dig up part or all of your previous surfaces. Our poured-in-place rubber safety surfacing fills in the gaps of previous cracks and smooths out hard tripping hazards to make for a flat and even surface.

Another reason that we trip on surfaces is that they are uneven. Over time, surfacing materials crack, split and wear out. This is normally caused by regular or daily use, over time. It can also be caused by extreme shifts and changes in temperature or weather. Moisture can get down into cracks in asphalt and concrete. If that moisture freezes during the winter, it can push apart the concrete and cause those rough splits and cracks. All of these factors can also cause the entire surface or parts of the surface to be uneven. Uneven flooring and surfacing are ripe for becoming tripping and falling hazards in the workplace. They are also a major hazard to anyone who needs mobility support or movement assistance, such as using a cane, wheelchair or crutches.

Our surfacing not only provides added traction to prevent slipping and falling, but it can also be used to even out uneven surfaces, making them totally flat and safe once again.

Is PIP Safe for Falls from High or Tall Equipment?

Poured-in-place rubber safety surfacing makes a huge difference in reducing the impact that can be caused by a high fall from any type of elevated surface. This type of rubberized surfacing material is made to meet stringent requirements for Critical Fall Heights (CFH). CFH refers to the rating of shock absorbency that this soft material creates, and rates its ability to lessen the impact and threat of a life-threatening head injury, caused by a high fall or a fall from a tall platform or piece of equipment.

Our PIP surfaces are great for a wide variety of settings including but not exclusive to

– Public or private pools
– Parks
– All types of businesses
– Both indoor and outdoor settings
– Workspaces and office areas

Using poured-in-place concrete in any of these areas not only makes them significantly more comfortable to work on and work in, but they also substantially drop the rate of a harmful, critical, and even fatal fall from a high ledge or platform.

Though more businesses are beginning to integrate poured-in-place concrete into their businesses, work, and recreation areas, we still get a lot of questions about the composition and the function of the actual materials that go into our surfacing.

Are there Unsafe Chemicals Used to Make Rubber Safety Surfacing Safe?

Any conscientious business owner does not want to put their team, their clients or anyone visiting their facility, office or area in harm’s way or danger. With some forms of pourable surfacing, you would have to be aware of if the manufacturer used any type of toxic or harmful chemicals in their surfacing solutions.

Our pourable surfacing products and solutions are made of materials that meet the highest safety standards. Our poured-in-place rubber safety surface products use a blend of high-quality materials that do not cause skin or eye irritation. Even if someone were to accidentally or purposefully consume a chunk of one of our poured surfaces, it would be highly unlikely that they would experience any type of adverse health side effects.

With that, we use a strong binding agent in our surfacing materials to make them incredibly durable. This also makes them resistant to breaking, chipping and wearing down.

Are they Easy to Clean?

Spills in the workplace or a public area can be a huge hazard for slipping, tripping and falling. Another way that our poured-in-place rubber safety surfacings are safer than other types of flooring or surfacing is that they are incredibly easy to clean.

We will advise that you clean up the spill or mess as soon as you can, as certain things like gum and oily chemicals can embed themselves into the surfacing if they are not cleaned up quickly. If someone in the area would track in unwanted debris, glue, sticky or oily liquids, soft drinks, gum, or any kind of chemicals, it can stain or discolor the surface. In most of these cases, that will only be a hindrance to the aesthetic appeal of the poured safety surface, and should not affect the level of safety and responsiveness that the soft safety surfacing provides.

In most instances of a spill, you can simply use a high-pressure hose nozzle or even soap, water and a brush or sponge to clean all kinds of spills of our pourable safety surfacing. We have found that warm water and softer soap like laundry detergent is often enough to pull out any tough spills or stains.

Even if you are not able to clean the surface in time, our materials are reasonably absorbent and will soak up most anything that you spill on them.

Other Safety Considerations for Poured-in-Place Rubber Safety Surfacing

Overall, there are numerous benefits to adding a poured-in-place rubber safety surface just about anywhere. Our flooring is an excellent option for both business and recreational areas and provides far more safety and comfort than harder flooring materials like laminate, tile, concrete, and asphalt.

It provides far more cushioning for tripping and falling, to keep anyone in the area significantly safer than they would be on harder surfaces. Our flooring significantly reduces the rates of injury and also the severity of trip and fall injuries on our pourable surfaces. It is also considerably more effective and safe when it comes to reducing the rates of injury and the severity of high-fall injuries, or falls from elevated surfaces, areas, or platforms. Our pourable rubberized surfaces absorb the blow, even from high falls, to reduce the risk of injuries and fatalities.

Perhaps one of the best aspects of the pourable, safe surfacing materials that we use is that you don’t have to tear up and remove your existing flooring before you add it. We can simply use our surfacing materials and processes to add our soft flooring right over the top of existing hard surfaces, making it a much safer surface for you and everyone around.

If you would like to learn more about our PIP safety surfacing or have more questions about the safety of our products, feel free to contact us at Rubcorp today.