When you think of a hospital, your mind likely turns to hallways, patient rooms, lobbies, operating rooms, and so on — the kitchen is probably the last thing on your mind. However, hospital kitchens play a crucial role in a facility’s reputation and patient satisfaction. Every patient must have access to quality food during their stay, and visitors benefit from having a place to eat on campus, too. If you manage a hospital, you can’t afford to ignore what goes on in your kitchen. Your hospital kitchen’s flooring can affect food and worker safety, so it’s important to maintain sturdy, practical floors in these areas. Here are some factors to consider when choosing the best commercial kitchen flooring for your hospital.
Safety
If any type of facility should set a strong example for safety protocols, it’s a hospital. Just like in any other kitchen setting, hospital kitchen floors can become major slipping hazards as moisture, grease, and food particles land on the ground. Moreover, floors that contain a low coefficient of friction (COF) are naturally more prone to causing slips, trips, and falls. To protect your workers from potential injury, invest in slip-resistant commercial kitchen flooring, such as vinyl, tile, rubber, or concrete aggregate options.
Cleanability and Sanitation
Hospital cleaning is a constant effort. Every area of a hospital must remain sanitary to protect the health and safety of all staff, patients, and visitors — kitchens are no exception. Dirty kitchen floors don’t just increase the risk of slips, trips, and falls, but they also reduce internal air quality and may even lead to food contamination. Investing in highly cleanable floors will reduce these risks and increase the efficiency of your commercial floor cleaning services. Floors with smooth surfaces tend to be the easiest to clean, so consider luxury vinyl tile (LVT), linoleum, or concrete coated with epoxy (or a similar application).
Level of Comfort
Hospital kitchen employees must work hard to prepare enough food for everyone inside on a given day. As such, workers don’t get much of a chance to rest their feet. To accommodate long stretches of standing, your hospital kitchen floors must be relatively comfortable. Comfortable floors translate to stronger morale and increased efficiency. Commercial rubber flooring offers the highest degree of comfort, making it one of the best types of flooring for hospital kitchens.
The Verdict
Your hospital kitchen flooring must be safe, sanitary, and comfortable for all workers. Many flooring materials meet some or all of these requirements to different degrees, so your choice must be based on your facility’s particular needs. For instance, rubber flooring can ease the strain on your kitchen employees, but these floors aren’t as easy to clean as, say, vinyl or linoleum. On the other hand, epoxy concrete floors can be designed to prevent slips, trips, and falls, but might not be as comfortable to stand on for long periods of time. At The Budd Group, our experienced commercial flooring contractors can help you make the right call for your hospital kitchen.
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