Clean is not necessarily safe

Safety is the norm with us. And we have carefully formulated that standard as external and independent experts based on science and practical experience. It is our base from which we work. It sounds simple, but in practice it works differently. Thus, we regularly find ourselves in a split. That’s because we deal with many different parties and just as many interests and budgets: municipalities, sports hall managers, cleaning companies and sports equipment suppliers. And everyone has a different definition of clean and safe. Conversations we have often lead to comparing apples to oranges.

Case in point: how do you keep water-based or solvent-based sports flooring safe for as many athletes as possible? One floor requires much more cleaning/maintenance because it is more susceptible to dirt (read: snuffs up the cleaning budget). The other floor has a different finish and therefore less likely to be slippery and therefore safer. Another apples-to-pears comparison is to compare the sports on the particular sports floor and their specific needs: One athlete likes a non-slip floor; another wants a smoother floor. That’s why the standard is broad.

Practice shows that different complaints arise from different readings (smoother or more slippery, clean or less clean, water-based or solvent-based floor). And what about the role of ventilation in the room, the number of sweating athletes, footwear, the (expensive or cheaper) cleaning agents, equipment and frequency used as well as the dosage and cleaning techniques; all factors continuously create this split. The most important handhold (immediately our strength) that we have is our seasoned cleaning/maintenance expertise, our independent position and the established safety standard for sports floors. That is and always will be our starting point. There is no tampering with that. Talking about it, on the other hand, can always be done.

More information on prescribed sports floor standards, such as EN 14904, can be found on our downloads page.