Thursday, February 14, 2013

Ten Terms Everyone Should Know About Mats

Crown Mats and Matting, now celebrating its 70th year of manufacturing mats in the U.S., would like to share its “Ten Terms Everyone Should Know about Mats.”

These terms refer to different types of mats used in commercial facilities and, according to Business Development Head JoAnne Boston, are often misunderstood by both cleaning professionals and facility managers.

1.    High-Performance: High-performance mats are designed to last 3 to 5 years withstanding very heavy foot traffic.
2.    Wiper: Wiper mats are placed inside the doors of a facility to absorb any remaining moisture and soil on a walker’s shoes.
3.    Scraper: Scraper mats are placed outside a facility and are intended to aggressively scrape soil and debris from shoe bottoms.
4.    Wiper/Scraper: Wiper/scraper mats wipe and dry shoe bottoms and are placed following a scraper mat but before a wiper mat.
5.    Ergonomic: Ergonomic mats offer a combination of softness (give) and support (resilience) to help reduce worker fatigue.
6.    Anti-Fatigue: Anti-fatigue mats offer even greater comfort, bounce, and support to help increase worker productivity and decrease pain, injuries, and soreness.
7.    Anti-static: Anti-static mats are designed to help reduce static electricity.
8.    Non-conductive: Non-conductive mats help insulate and protect workers from serious shocks that can be generated by high voltage.
9.    Specialty: Something of a catch-all, this terms refers to a variety of different matting products, for instance, a mat placed under a chair to protect the floor below, a gym mat, even a meditation mat.
10.    Bi-level: Bi-level mats store soil and water below shoe level for later removal. This prevents contaminants from being transferred onto floor surfaces.