FOSROC International provided flooring for a renovation project at a turkey abattoir in Stoke on Trent, which involved the use of their new high-build polyaspartic flooring system, Nitoflor PAFS. Nitoflor PAFS has been certified as having ‘no potential to taint’ by Campden BRI, making it ideal for food storage, processing and preparation areas.
Says Fosroc: ‘The client had a CPU MF system that had been laid in all areas of the factory, however it was too slippery in some of the process areas. To ensure there are no slips and trips, anti-slip walkways and pads needed to be installed in various areas.
‘These areas are frequently used with a heavy footfall, so it was important a durable coating was used that would cope with regular and rigorous cleaning using hot pressurised water and cleaning chemicals. The factory is in almost constant operation, so there was a limited downtime available to complete works.
‘Typically, PMMA fast-curing products produce significant amounts of odour during application. This was not suitable for this project as a live food factory with no forced ventilation. The client got in touch with Respol and an initial site visit was carried out, who then contacted Fosroc for a follow up site visit, consultation and specification advice.’
Here, in Fosroc’s words, are the salient points:
The solution
The area was prepared by diamond grinder to achieve the correct mechanical key and a specialist vacuum system was utilised to minimise any airborne dust owing to it being a food factory. Nitoflor PAFS Primer was applied, followed by two coats of Nitoflor PAFS Topcoat in Mid Grey. A coarse aggregate was scattered into the wet first topcoat to ensure the correct slip resistance was achieved. Nitoflor PAFS is a quick curing polyaspartic FERFA Type 3 coating resin flooring system with very little odour (non-tainting to foodstuffs) during application and curing.
It also has excellent durability and resistance to cleaning chemicals and wear resistance to traffic.
The benefits
The independent health & safety consultant brought in by the client for the project, Jason White (Tech IOSH, AIMEA) described the benefits in applying Nitoflor PAFS:
Respol successfully installed the product within tight deadlines in a demanding live environment, ensuring the product was properly detailed into the other system for compatibility. In applying Nitoflor PAFS, the existing floor could remain in place – saving the need for removal and re-application of hundreds of kilos of material.
After a six-month period the product is continuing to perform, which has led to further orders for other areas in the factory. Respol were approached to assist with an urgent requirement to mitigate a health and safety hazard onsite.
They took the necessary time to completely understand the scope of problem faced and once a potential solution was identified, and a trial area in the workplace passed a rigorous test, were extremely flexible in terms of actual implementation.
Impact on the operation was kept to a bare minimum and, most importantly, staff feedback in terms of the flooring introduced has been extremely positive. We look forward to phase two of the agreed project being completed in two other workplace areas and would have no hesitation in recommending this process to other third parties.
www.fosroc.com
