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Simmons Foods Facilities Ensure Worker Safety

The implementation of SlipNot anti-slip flooring technology protects employees at a meat producer from slipping or tripping on wet, hazardous surfaces.

Even when wet from liquids, detergent, and oils, the SlipNot surface retains its high-friction qualities, so production can continue despite the presence of liquids that would otherwise bring it to a halt.
Even when wet from liquids, detergent, and oils, the SlipNot surface retains its high-friction qualities, so production can continue despite the presence of liquids that would otherwise bring it to a halt.

Commonplace inside food manufacturing facilities are elevated surfaces—platforms, crossovers, catwalks, and ladders—allowing employees to maneuver around equipment. It’s not uncommon, though, for these elevated surfaces to quickly become wet and slippery with liquids, greasy animal proteins and fats, blood, and oil spillover.

Even when wet from liquids, detergent, and oils, the SlipNot surface retains its high-friction qualities, so production can continue despite the presence of liquids that would otherwise bring it to a halt.Even when wet from liquids, detergent, and oils, the SlipNot surface retains its high-friction qualities, so production can continue despite the presence of liquids that would otherwise bring it to a halt.Simmons Foods, a supplier of poultry, pet, and animal nutrition products, traditionally used stainless steel diamond plates on its mezzanines, which were then covered with neoprene mats to mitigate the slipping hazards common when diamond plate becomes wet, that were none too easy to clean, in the tread areas to mitigate slippage. “But overtime, as the oils reacted with the rubber [in the mats], they would wrinkle up and then became a trip hazard. And so people were tripping on the mats,” says Kyle Nieman, senior engineering manager for Simmons Foods. Nieman leads the engineering team that implements capital projects at nine facilities in the regions of Van Buren and Siloam Springs, Ark. The mats at difficult to clean, and when they become too old and wrinkled, they have to be replaced, increasing their cost. 

The food producer had known of SlipNot’s anti-slip flooring for some time but had not wanted to spend the extra cost. However, as mat after mat became a tripping hazard and had to be replaced, and as slips, trips, and falls became more of an issue, it became obvious the extra cost would be worth it.

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Maintaining anti-slip properties over time

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