Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
Your industry news - first
The original and best - for over 20 years!
We strongly recommend viewing Cleanzine full size in your web browser. Click our masthead above to visit our website version.
New research reveals incorrect cleaning 'the major cause' of lack of legal floor compliance in wet leisure environments
A study of hundreds of leisure facilities by Bonasystems, the provider of specialist floor care products and services, has revealed that four-fifths (79%) of 'wet leisure' floor surfaces were not up to Health & Safety Executive standards used to prevent slips and trips and that incorrect cleaning - rather than floor specification - was a major cause of non-compliance.
Bonasystems' testers found that once the floors were cleaned correctly, 75% would -in wet conditions - achieve the requisite 36 PTV or above (pendulum test value; used by HSE in prosecution cases). It concludes that nearly 75% of floors are fit for purpose, but will only meet HSE standards if they are maintained properly.
Non-compliance leaves their owners risking fines of up to 100% of annual profits for health & safety breaches, not to mention claim costs of tens of thousands of pounds.
Bonasystems tested 379 floors alongside swimming pools, in showers and in changing rooms over the last two years. It used the pendulum test, which is designed to replicate a pedestrian heel strike at the point when most slips occur. Testing took place in various types of leisure facility, including those owned and outsourced by local authorities, privately owned leisure centres, Sporta trust facilities and hotels.
Despite the fact that slips and trips are a major cause of accidents in the leisure sector, the results reveal a worrying lack of compliance. HSE guidance says that in foreseeably wet environments such as poolsides, showers, changing rooms etc, a wet pendulum test value of 36 or above is required - which reduces the slip risk to 1 in 1 million versus a risk of 1 in 20 if there is a wet PTV of 24). When Bonasystems carried out the pendulum test in wet conditions, 79% of floors did not achieve 36 PTV.
"This is a very serious issue for leisure centre and hotel operators," warns Christian Harris, commercial director of Bonasystems. "Whilst the average cost of a slip and trip claim is some £14,000, in reality we can expect the overall cost to be much higher on account of recent changes to the sentencing guidelines on fines for health & safety breaches. In the worst case scenario, these allow for fines of up to 100 per cent of a company's annual profits, not to mention the personal cost to the claimant and the reputational damage involved.
"The irony is that whilst companies often think they are saving money on their cleaning and maintenance costs, they are actually storing up worse trouble for themselves ahead. If the UK's 4,000 leisure centres invested up to an extra £50 each a month on proper cleaning regimes, they stand a far better chance of avoiding a claim which could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.
"Recent legislative changes increase the onus on businesses and cleaning contractors to get floorcare and cleaning right. Previously companies could have been faced with fines of around £10,000 if they were found guilty over health & safety breaches. Today, fines now have the potential to be as much as 100 per cent of annual profits for transgressions."
Loo of the Year Awards sponsor Bonasystems, is a UK market leader in specialist floor care chemical products and associated services. It works with a wide variety of clients across multiple sectors in the UK as well as South Africa, Italy, The Netherlands and Ireland. Its client list includes some the UK's best known brands such as Sainsbury's, Asda, Virgin Active, Hilton Worldwide, Network Rail and Land Securities.
T: +44+1442 927 100
W: www.bonasystems.com
8th October 2015