What is Barrier Matting and where can it be used?

What types of barrier matting systems are available?

Barrier matting systems, which are also called entrance matting, are typically fixed systems crafted from aluminum or plastic. They often include inserts made of carpet, nylon brushes, or rubber/PVC scrapers.

Various insert types are made to either remove dirt or soak up moisture from shoes and wheeled traffic. Your choice will largely depend on the setting, traffic volume, and traffic type.

Barrier matting is designed to prevent water and dirt from entering a building and provides various visual and functional advantages for businesses.

• First impressions – Barrier matting systems create a safe and clean entrance for employees and visitors. We all know that first impressions matter. A neat and organized entrance can create a positive image of the brand for potential clients.
• Slip Safety – Accidents can be prevented by moisture and contaminants being scraped off or absorbed from footwear at the entrance of your building. To effectively clean footwear and wheeled traffic, correctly specified barrier matting must be installed. The matting needs to have enough length to cope with the level of footfall. The HSE recently reported that during 2019/20, 29% of non-fatal injuries to employees were attributed to slips, trips or falls on the same level.
• Reduced maintenance costs – By reducing contaminants on internal flooring, internal cleaning costs can be reduced. It has been reported that it can cost around £500 to remove 1kg of dirt once inside a building. An individual could walk in at least 0.58g of dirt per day – this figure can be 10x as much in wet weather. Barrier entrance matting helps to prolong the life of internal flooring, by trapping moisture and debris from entering the building.

We offer a Supply & Install Service for Barrier Matting Systems, Entrance Matting Systems and GRP Flooring. Our team are here to support you from the enquiry stage right through to flooring installation.

The majority of barrier matting systems are manufactured from aluminium, such as our Plan.a system and are designed to be installed into a matwell frame. If a mat well is not available, we recommend matting options with bevelled edging to prevent trip hazards and to allow safe access for wheeled traffic, such as wheelchairs.

When specifying entrance matting it is important to keep in mind the cleaning and maintenance requirements for the particular product chosen, while taking into account daily footfall. Keeping to a schedule ensures the mattings high performance, as well as keeping it looking great. Different systems require different treatments.

To help you we’ve created a go-to cleaning & maintenance guide for entrance matting systems, there’s even a spot cleaning guide which covers how to remove a variety of spills and messes from your barrier matting.