With slips and trips one of the most common causes of accidents, it’s hardly surprising that every year councils across the UK pay out millions of pounds in compensation claims due to faulty, broken and uneven pavements . While the cost to those that fall and suffer is incalculable, these injury claims can be reduced significantly if local authorities applied a highly durable, slip-resistant surfacing material such as mastic asphalt.
Across the UK, a defective and imperfect pavement, street or road is a common sight, with many a pedestrian having fallen foul of an uneven or slippery surface. In the public transport sector, it’s absolutely critical that a slip-resistant paving surface is applied in heavily trafficked environment such as station platforms and bus terminals. From manufacturing plants to walkways, hospitals to sports halls, all of these situations require heavy duty, hard-working flooring systems which are durable, slip-resistant and capable of handling the rigours of constant heavy traffic.
Capable of outperforming and outlasting almost every other type of industrial and domestic flooring material, mastic asphalt is hard to beat. Its damp-proof properties and wearing qualities make it ideal for wet and dry conditions and the obvious choice for many specifiers.
Mastic asphalt can be quickly installed using a hot charge process, and it cools very rapidly – allowing foot traffic within two to three hours, depending upon ambient temperature.
Most importantly, slip and skid resistance can be provided by sand rubbing, surface crimping or by the application of high polished stone value pre-coated chippings. For local authorities and public pathway specifiers, this added functionality further enhances the material’s suitability for public areas – and in reducing the potential for any slips and trips.
By taking action now and proactively seeking to improve the nation’s pavements, local authorities can pave a way to making unnecessary trips and injury claims a thing of the past. And with a seamless, slip-resistant product to hand, such as mastic asphalt, there’s nothing stopping councils from saving millions of pounds of medical and compensation costs per year.