CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE GUIDE TO INDUSTRIAL FLOOR REPAIRS

3 Reasons Why The Right Flooring Is Essential In An Abattoir

 With meat processing facilities and abattoirs being regularly wet or immersed in water, blood, fat, animal waste and/or chemicals, it’s clear that these settings are unique and thus have special requirements.

Due to their acidic nature, animal fat and proteins can and will, attack and corrode unprotected concrete, weakening its structure and causing it to break down.

And that’s why it’s essential that you select a high-performance resin floor for your meat processing facility or abattoir. Read on to find out more…

Your Abattoir Resin Floor Should Enhance Food Safety

A team of agricultural researchers recently discovered a gene in salmonella that is resistant to antibiotics, especially to those used to treat multi-resistant bacteria.

The gene was discovered in broiler chickens and could pose a potential threat to the poultry industry.

You may be thinking, “how does this relate to my abattoir?”

The floor itself is a major breeding ground for bacteria, especially when using a porous surface and should therefore be monitored and cleaned regularly.

Any damages to a floor should be repaired as soon as possible in order to minimise the number of bacteria that could penetrate and reside under the floor.

But is a standard resin floor capable of maintaining hygiene? In many cases yes, as it is better than using a substrate such as concrete, but is a standard resin enough to withstand the rigours of a meat processing facility?

Take PU for example. During its cure time, air will pass through the top surface of the floor, leaving tiny airholes. Whilst they may look small, they can easily be penetrated – exposing the surface underneath the top layer. This presents a significant problem for dirt and bacteria to grow and reside.

To combat this problem, you should consider a resin that achieves a fully monolithic structure. In other words, a system whereby each layer is chemically fused to the previous layer (no matter how old). This can only be found in thermoplastic resins, such as Acrylicon.

Your Slaughterhouse Floor Needs To Be Impact Resistant

In an abattoir, many variables come into contact with the floor, from machinery to foot traffic and vehicles. Therefore, your floor must be strong enough to take some impact.

You need to consider what actually takes place inside your abattoir. Your flooring will come into contact with many different substances, so it is important that your flooring is resilient enough to cope with these demands.

The more resistant the floor, the better. If anything goes wrong and major damage is incurred, then a shutdown may be required to repair the floor. This will then result in an increase in expenses, and a halt in production, which is not good for business.

The Answer To Impact Resistance?

Ultimately, it’s the bond strength of the resin that contributes to producing a strong, successful floor. To achieve this, your resin should achieve deep penetration to the substrate – with subsequent chemical bonding of the body and sealer layers – to ensure that the resin is permanently “welded” to the base.

This is achievable with Acrylicon – as most other resin systems rely greatly on a mechanical key.

Your Abattoir Floor Should Champion Worker Safety

In the meat production industry, there has been a sharp decline in worker injury and illness over the past 20 years and maintaining this decline is a priority in the industry.

As the profession is largely labour intensive, all elements of safety must be considered.

Maintaining good health and safety is not only good for employees, but for productivity too as fewer absentees allow you to work at a higher capacity.

Your flooring is something that is used by everyone, all day, every day. So surely this should be seen as an investment?

Maintaining and ensuring your floors are up to a certain standard is part of the Health and Safety Regulations of 1992, meaning floors should be in a certain condition and suitable for the given environment.

The use of a resin flooring system with anti-slip technologies are perfectly suited to working in a setting such as an abattoir.

All flooring solutions come with a certain level of anti-slip tech, but it can easily be worn away through everyday activities, such as:

• – Walking
• – Turning vehicles
• – Heavy foot traffic
• – Heavy machinery
• – Cleaning

As soon as this anti-slip technology wears away, you will need to update your floor to ensure employee health and safety. Therefore, you should always seek aftercare and advice on cleaning and maintenance to ensure the slip resistance properties of your abattoir floors.

With Acrylicon, if you need to update your slip resistance, the new slip resistance becomes a part of the existing floor due to the chemical bond.

What Is The Best Resin Floor For Your Abattoir?

Any resin floor is better than a concrete floor, but for your resin floor to be perfectly suited to a slaughterhouse, it must be:

• – Slip resistant
• – Suitable in all conditions
• – Safe
• – Hygienic
• – Impact resistant
• – Easy to install & repair
• – Come with a warranty

When going through this list and comparing all different solutions, there is one standout that ticks all the boxes.

And that’s Acrylicon.

Solutions such as polyurethane, MMA and epoxy resin may come with some of the desired credentials, but quite often at the expense of others.

Acrylicon guarantees:

• – Fast cure time
• – Chemical stability
• – Bond Strength
• – Chemical bonding
• – Chemical resistance
• – Mechanical strengths
• – Hygiene benefits
• – No join lines
• – Longevity

Combined, these make for an ideal solution for your abattoir flooring.

Conclusion

Acrylicon flooring installations are always planned to best suit you. With a cure time of only two hours, Acrylicon can install during evenings or weekends when your abattoir is already closed.

The Acrylicon installation team can also set up tented areas and can install the floor in sections to minimise any shutdowns required, thus minimising any disruption.

Work can continue whilst the resin floor is being installed, as Acrylicon resins are non-toxic and therefore won’t taint or contaminate any food your produce.

To speak with an expert today, get in touch today.