A new study by the scientists at UCLA finds that a moderate traumatic brain injury increases the risk of Parkinson ’s disease later in life. We aren’t talking about the obvious traumatic injuries that happen in extreme situations like a head injury that would affect a soldier at war, but the head injuries that occur every day from slip and falls, car crashes and football helmets crashing together.
According to an article entitled “The Next Step in Floor Protection” by Ron Whipple, he talks about the benefits of using a slip resistant coating instead of counting on the texture of diamond plate flooring to prevent a slippery situation. He states that a milk loading facility replaced diamond plate flooring on their truck hatches because the “rough metal plate caused some crates to break and leak milk under the floor.” This not only created a slippery situation, but created a bigger mess for the workers. The solution was to replace the diamond plate flooring and apply a polyurethane coating.
According to an article entitled “Preventing Driver Slips and Falls” by the National Association of Wholesaler – Distributors, “Extruded safety steps do provide an excellent non-slip surface, but wet or oily ‘diamond plate’ can be almost as slippery as a flat surface.” Even though diamond plate flooring, such as aluminum diamond plate, contains a pattern of raised diamonds that act as a slip resistant tread to prevent slip and fall injuries, it does not provide the same slip resistant coverage as coated non slip surfaces.
There are many alternatives to diamond floor plates that offer just as much, if not more slip resistance. Slip resistant treatments and options range from quick fixes to more industrial permanent solutions. Quick fixes are typically taped-on products to painted-on products that need to be replaced after a certain amount of wear. In contrast, solutions that are more permanent range from diamond floor plate to smooth metal plates that are coated with an all-metal slip resistant surface.
In a specification submitted document written by Rudy Powell, the Florida State Specifications Engineer, to Monica Gourdine, the Program Operations Engineer, the material that is specified for sidewalk cover plates is to be replaced.
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