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Top 10 Reasons For Staff Calling A ‘Sickie’
REVEALED: The top 10 reasons for people ‘pulling a sickie’ WAKING up on a dark and cold morning in January, many people fleetingly think how nice it would be to stay in bed and not go to work. Most resist the temptation. But there are those who don’t hesitate about ‘pulling a sickie’ (regardless of the time of year). For employers, however, the absence of one key person can seriously affect the running of a business. A UK-wide survey of over 2,000 people by Flexioffices has unearthed the UK’s top 10 reasons for staying away...
read moreWhy You Have To Strike A Balance
Jim Coulson on maintaining a balanced approach when installing wood IT IS a while since I wrote about the technical properties of wood-based flooring products, and a recent case pointed out to me the fact that wood is still a very misunderstood material. Of course, wood is loved for its warmth (literally as well as figuratively) and its infinite variety of surface patterns, colours and textures, but it is also used for its technical properties as well. Wood is unusual in that it is comprised of longitudinal fibres which run (mostly)...
read moreFlooring Installations Are Best Warm & Dry
Martin Cummins on site conditions AS I visit sites and chat to flooring contractors it is very evident that pressures from main contractors to get jobs done is more and more of a problem these days. Talking recently to a time served, long in the tooth, nearly ready to retire contractor the nostalgia of the past came through. He told me that professional flooring once had a much stronger standing and was a much more respected trade. He could arrive on site and if the areas where not ready or there was insufficient lighting then they would...
read moreFlooring Installers Avoiding Complaints
Sid Bourne’s top tips to installers on avoiding fitting complaints I WAS recently called in by a consumer who was extremely unhappy with his new solid oak flooring purchased from a large merchant group. He insisted that the wood flooring sold to him was faulty. I questioned the consumer who said the flooring was buckling. As a result he had to have part of the flooring removed. The consumer had gone back to the supplier who said he would need to get an independent assessment and hence my involvement. I duly asked the consumer questions...
read moreDomotex – The Major Flooring Exhibition
Domotex, January 17-20, 2015, is a major international flooring exhibition. Exhibitors this year include: Balta Broadloom (Hall 6, Stand A30) will launch 10 new broadloom ranges in polypropylene, wool and nylon. These include Royal Sovereign (80% Wool/10% PES/10% PP) in Super (37oz), Deluxe (53oz) and Supreme (65oz) qualities, in 12 plain colours, 4m and 5m wide. A stripe design in three coordinating colours is 4m wide. Lothian Wool Berber is made from 100% British Wool in eight plain styles 4m and 5m wide and four coordinating stripes...
read moreMake Sure Your Word Is Your Bond
Neil Sanders on specialist adhesives WITH so many different products on the market, selecting the best adhesive for each flooring job can be difficult. An adhesive that works well in one setting might not be compatible with another. Choosing the right adhesive for the job can offer significant timesaving opportunities for contractors working to tight deadlines, and guaranteed, lasting results for customers. General purpose adhesives, which are compatible with the majority of floorcoverings on the market, fill an important role for...
read moreFlooring In Education
Flooring is used in education needs to have a variety of different qualities: Bona has strengthened its adhesive range, which now includes what is described as safe, clean, easy to work with silane-based products. Two of these, Bona R848 and Bona R850, are now available in large 8.5kg ‘sausage’ packs. This type of pack is favoured by stockists as well as users because of the ease of transport and storage. Packed in pairs in strong cardboard outers, they can be less prone to damage than plastic or metal tubs and they also offer a...
read moreSlip Resistance Flooring
John Mellor with advice on specifying safety flooring THE UK safety flooring market is experiencing significant change with the introduction of innovative new ranges which offer sustainable slip resistance combined with new decorations. The latest safety floors feature slip resistant particles that are almost invisible to the naked eye yet still offer continued underfoot safety in compliance with the HSE & UK Slip Resistance Group Guidelines. The current trend is for this slip resistance to be virtually imperceptible yet perform over a...
read moreDecorative Commercial Flooring
Paul Rogers on making safety flooring look attractive TYPICALLY safety flooring is viewed as a functional necessity and rightly so, but it can often be too conventional in its design approach. Nowadays, clients are looking for something out of the ordinary, flooring products that not only meet the desired performance characteristics in order to prevent unnecessary slips and trips, but also complement the surroundings. In terms of guidance for safety flooring, contractors should only specify products that meet Health and Safety Executive...
read moreWrong Spec
USING the wrong type of safety flooring can leave you at risk. This article will give you a handy guide on what to use where. Safety flooring with sustained slip resistance of TRRL 36 or above reduces the risk of slipping to one in a million and keeps it that way over time. However, different types of safety flooring provide different levels of slip resistance in different environments, so choosing sustained slip resistance is actually just one element of fulfilling your duty to choose flooring that does not put people’s safety at...
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