What Are The Best Flooring Solutions For Your Warehouse?

Choosing the right flooring solution for your warehouse is not only a matter of comfort or aesthetics, but also about meeting your legal responsibilities.

The Health and Safety Executive clearly notes the importance of using appropriate flooring to ensure that any work activities taking place on it can be undertaken as safely and efficiently as possible.

Which flooring types are right for your warehouse? There is ultimately no universal answer, as warehouses operate at different scales with often very different processes, each of which has its own considerations when it comes to choosing the right flooring.

With that in mind, here are some of the biggest considerations when it comes to flooring, and which types of flooring would work best for your warehouse.

What Specific Legal Requirements Are In Place?

The letter of the law, detailed in Section 12 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, broadly requires all flooring in a workplace to be suitable for its purposes.

Specifically, it must avoid having a slope, must be even, must provide enough grip to not be slippery and must ensure that it continues to maintain these qualities in typical working environments.

For example, a floor must have enough slip resistance if a wet puddle forms, if dust settles or if there is contamination, all of which will typically be examined as part of a risk assessment.

There are other laws that may apply, such as building regulations, visibility of different traffic zones, maintenance and which standards are most relevant, but the most important aspect is that the flooring is fit for purpose.

What Are The Most Important Qualities To Warehouse Flooring?

Which qualities make flooring suitable for a warehouse? With warehouse flooring facing particularly strong forces and pressures exerted onto it, different environmental conditions forming in larger warehouses, and the potential for significant wear and tear, choosing the right flooring is ideal not only for safety reasons but for continued efficiency and economy.

Whilst there are countless specific qualities that will go into your choice of warehouse flooring, there are four distinct criteria that must be considered:

• Safety: Many of the specific legal requirements are noted above, but the floor must be able to resist impact damage, potential chemical spills, and provide traction to avoid slips, trips and falls.

• Durability: It needs to last a long time, as frequent repairs can lead to unacceptable levels of disruption in a workplace.

• Efficiency: This has several definitions with regard to flooring, but maintenance, repairs and replacements should be fast and easy to do without delaying operations, and should be suitable and fit for purpose for any person, machinery or operation on it.

• Affordability: This is typically measured in terms of total cost of ownership, so it factors in not only the initial investment and installation of your chosen floor, but also the cost of repairs and replacement. It also takes into account the costs accrued through downtime and maintenance.

There are a lot of suitable options, from sheet vinyl that can be easily laid onto solid concrete foundations, to modular solutions that can be easily installed and are more suitable for high-traffic floors where there is a greater need for replacement surfaces.

Which Factors Can Affect Your Choice Of Flooring?

Because warehouses vary so broadly in size, shape and use, there will be a degree of variability when it comes to the right flooring. Here are some major elements that must be considered when choosing the right floor:

• Load: Warehouses store and move a lot of often heavy goods, and this weight will play a vital factor in any flooring you plan to use.

• Exposure to Chemicals: If the warehouse handles chemicals, it will need to have a material resistant to them to avoid costly repairs and adverse reactions.

• Traffic: The more people who will be travelling through the warehouse, particularly if they are operating forklifts or heavy equipment, the more robust and heavy-duty your flooring solution will need to be.

• Environmental Factors: Some warehouses are so large they have their own weather system, so it is essential to factor in temperature changes, moisture, humidity and other elements that could affect your floor’s long-term integrity.

• Hygiene: Flooring should be easy to clean and disinfect, particularly if your warehouse handles food, medicine or other perishable goods that could cause health issues if contaminated.

• Work Activity: Whilst a warehouse office will still require robust carpet or luxury vinyl tiles, the requirements will be far different from the warehouse floor and its constant wave of activity. Choose flooring solutions that can support each purpose.