How Does Industrial Flooring Solve Your Inspection Challenges?

Com­pli­ca­tions and chal­lenges can arise dur­ing a floor­ing inspec­tion, caus­ing delays and issues that can hurt your com­pa­ny’s bot­tom line. In this arti­cle, we’ll dis­cuss how prop­er­ly installed and main­tained indus­tri­al floor­ing pre­vents cer­tain inspec­tion issues and makes the process seamless. 

Com­mon Inspec­tion Chal­lenges in Indus­tri­al Settings

Indus­tri­al inspec­tion encom­pass­es every facet of a facil­i­ty’s oper­a­tion, from the equip­ment to the phys­i­cal state of the work­place and safe­ty prac­tices. This process helps ensure that the facil­i­ty adheres to pre­de­fined stan­dards and reg­u­la­tions. It also plays a crit­i­cal role in keep­ing a work­place envi­ron­ment safe. 

While nec­es­sary, rou­tine inspec­tions can be a pain for facil­i­ty own­ers and man­agers. Cer­ti­fied inspec­tors who use indus­try-spe­cif­ic inspec­tion meth­ods and tech­nolo­gies usu­al­ly per­form indus­tri­al inspec­tions. How­ev­er, they often rely on their sense of sight to iden­ti­fy defects and issues.

Man­u­al inspec­tions are prone to human error. No mat­ter how expe­ri­enced or skilled a human inspec­tor is, they are sus­cep­ti­ble to mak­ing mis­takes. They may over­look a tiny defect, mis­in­ter­pret an inspec­tion guide­line, or mis­read a mea­sure­ment because of a lack of con­cen­tra­tion, fatigue, and oth­er factors.

These inspec­tion errors can cause seri­ous issues for a facil­i­ty. For instance, unde­tect­ed spills or leaks in a man­u­fac­tur­ing facil­i­ty can lead to safe­ty and envi­ron­men­tal con­cerns. The cost of poten­tial fines and cleanup can be astro­nom­i­cal. Addi­tion­al­ly, there’s the risk of poten­tial busi­ness loss because of a dam­aged rep­u­ta­tion and loss of cus­tomer trust.

The Role of Indus­tri­al Floor­ing in Inspection

Albeit time-con­sum­ing, facil­i­ty own­ers and man­agers must have all aspects of the busi­ness inspect­ed, includ­ing floor­ing. Floors in indus­tri­al facil­i­ties are exposed to many dam­ag­ing fac­tors, like exces­sive weight, extreme tem­per­a­ture, and high pres­sure. Not only do these affect the longevi­ty and dura­bil­i­ty of the floor, but they also impact safe­ty in the facility.

Peel­ing, crack­ing, and pre­ma­ture wear and tear are com­mon prob­lems with floor­ing, specif­i­cal­ly con­crete. These floor­ing issues can become a trip-and-fall haz­ard, increas­ing the risk of acci­dents and injuries that can lead to hefty insur­ance claims and oth­er cost­ly legal lia­bil­i­ties. Addi­tion­al­ly, dam­aged floor­ing can com­pro­mise the struc­tur­al integri­ty of the build­ing, work­force pro­duc­tiv­i­ty, and safe­ty of the end products.

Rou­tine floor inspec­tion helps detect irreg­u­lar­i­ties or issues that could oth­er­wise become detri­men­tal to the facil­i­ty and its occu­pants. An inspec­tor will make a care­ful visu­al exam­i­na­tion of the floor using a check­list as a guide. Com­mon issues they look for include cup­ping, crown­ing, sag­ging, and gaps.

Floor inspec­tion can be a lengthy process, espe­cial­ly when the inspec­tor spots vio­la­tions and prob­lems. Find­ing issues is a good thing in itself because it means you can pre­vent prob­lems from wors­en­ing or caus­ing even more dam­age. Still, deal­ing with any type of floor dam­age can be cost­ly and may cause downtime.

Prop­er­ly installed and main­tained indus­tri­al floor­ing can speed up and sim­pli­fy the inspec­tion process. Let’s take a clos­er look at how qual­i­ty indus­tri­al floors can lead to a quick­er, more effi­cient inspec­tion that will less like­ly affect your operations.

Ensur­ing Reg­u­la­to­ry Compliance

Con­duct­ing rou­tine floor inspec­tions is a require­ment in many Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency (EPA) and Occu­pa­tion­al Safe­ty and Health Admin­is­tra­tion (OSHA) reg­u­la­tions. Facil­i­ty own­ers and man­agers are required to rou­tine­ly exam­ine all walk­ing and work­ing sur­faces in their facil­i­ty to iden­ti­fy and address slip, trip, and fall haz­ards. The floor­ing should remain clean, espe­cial­ly in indus­tries such as health care and food production.

Some slip, trip, and fall haz­ards are wet or oily sur­faces, obstruct­ed path­ways, and floor trac­tion incon­sis­ten­cies. Cracked, uneven, or bro­ken sur­faces in ware­house floor­ing can also cause indi­vid­u­als to lose their bal­ance or trip and fall. When it comes to clean­li­ness, dam­aged floor­ing usu­al­ly caus­es dirt and bac­te­ria to infil­trate the sub­strate or stick to the sur­face. With the right indus­tri­al floor­ing, most of these issues can be addressed.

Hence, when inspec­tion time comes, you don’t have to wor­ry about the inspec­tor find­ing issues that could be cost­ly and time-con­sum­ing to repair. Installing indus­tri­al floor­ing suit­able for your indus­try can help to ensure com­pli­ance. For instance, pol­ished con­crete floor­ing meets OSHA and oth­er indus­try stan­dards for slip resistance.

Facil­i­tat­ing Easy Visu­al Inspections

Some inspec­tors don’t use tools when exam­in­ing floor­ing or any oth­er aspect of your facil­i­ty. They rely on the naked eye to detect issues that require atten­tion, a method referred to as visu­al inspec­tion. It’s rel­a­tive­ly inex­pen­sive, flex­i­ble, and non-destruc­tive. On the down­side, visu­al inspec­tion can be time-con­sum­ing and can only detect sur­face-lev­el prob­lems. Its accu­ra­cy also depends on the inspector’s skill and experience.

With indus­tri­al floor­ing, inspec­tions can be per­formed with ease. A well-pol­ished, seam­less con­crete floor with a high lev­el of reflec­tiv­i­ty makes it easy for inspec­tors to assess the floor’s con­di­tion visu­al­ly and detect defects, includ­ing cor­ro­sion, cracks, and discoloration.

Resis­tance to Chem­i­cals and Contaminants

Con­t­a­m­i­na­tion is a huge issue, espe­cial­ly in facil­i­ties with food, bev­er­ages, and med­ical sup­plies. The worst thing about con­t­a­m­i­na­tion is that it is dif­fi­cult to detect a prob­lem until it has already esca­lat­ed and affect­ed peo­ple. And floor­ing plays a huge part in contamination. 

The floor can be home to harm­ful microor­gan­isms. These microbes may grow and build up in floor crevices, gut­ters, and oth­er damp and dark areas. Most are also not vis­i­ble to the naked eye, which means visu­al inspec­tion won’t be enough to detect their presence.

With antimi­cro­bial indus­tri­al floor­ing, you don’t have to wor­ry about germs brought in by peo­ple and vehi­cles. Antimi­cro­bial prop­er­ties in the floor will elim­i­nate germs before they can wreak hav­oc in your facil­i­ty. Some floors are chem­i­cal-resis­tant, so you don’t need to wor­ry about chem­i­cals dam­ag­ing the flooring.

Choos­ing the Right Indus­tri­al Floor­ing Solutions

Most floor­ing solu­tions installed in res­i­den­tial prop­er­ties do not match the spe­cif­ic require­ments of indus­tri­al facil­i­ties. So, what is the suit­able floor­ing for an indus­tri­al building?

There’s no one-size-fits-all solu­tion when it comes to indus­tri­al floor­ing, as dif­fer­ent sec­tors have vary­ing needs. For exam­ple, an auto­mo­tive plant requires floor­ing that can with­stand the weight of vehi­cles and can resist oil spills. On the oth­er hand, food pro­cess­ing facil­i­ties require floor­ing that is resis­tant to bac­te­r­i­al growth and chemicals.

So, assess­ing the facil­i­ty’s spe­cif­ic needs is nec­es­sary when choos­ing a suit­able indus­tri­al floor­ing solu­tion. Con­sid­er fac­tors like the lev­el of foot traf­fic, tem­per­a­ture fluc­tu­a­tions, and the pres­ence of cor­ro­sive substances.

Learn­ing about the var­i­ous floor­ing mate­ri­als is use­ful in deter­min­ing the best option that meets your facil­i­ty’s needs. Your floor­ing options range from con­crete floor­ing to epoxy and polyurethane. Each mate­r­i­al dif­fers in terms of dura­bil­i­ty, main­te­nance require­ments, instal­la­tion com­plex­i­ty, etc.

Also, con­sid­er the safe­ty fea­tures of the floor­ing sys­tem. Some floor­ing solu­tions resist slips, stains, and ther­mal fluc­tu­a­tions. Oth­ers have antimi­cro­bial prop­er­ties to min­i­mize bac­te­ria build-up on the floor or anti-sta­t­ic to pro­tect sen­si­tive elec­tron­ic equip­ment from sta­t­ic electricity.

Oth­er impor­tant con­sid­er­a­tions are main­te­nance require­ments and bud­get. Some mate­ri­als are eas­i­er to clean and main­tain, reduc­ing long-term costs and down­time. When it comes to bud­get, you must con­sid­er not just the ini­tial cost but also how much you’ll spend on floor­ing instal­la­tion, main­te­nance, and poten­tial repairs.

Solve Inspec­tion Chal­lenges With Kaloutas Indus­tri­al Floor­ing Solutions

Pre­pare your facil­i­ty for an inspec­tion by installing the appro­pri­ate indus­tri­al floor­ing solu­tions. At Kaloutas, we can help deter­mine the best floor­ing sys­tem that meets your facil­i­ty’s demands. The team can cus­tomize the indus­tri­al floor­ing ser­vice accord­ing to your facil­i­ty’s com­pli­ance needs. 

Main­tain a safe, com­pli­ant facil­i­ty with Kaloutas’ indus­tri­al floor­ing ser­vices. Get a floor­ing esti­mate today.