East Sussex Fire & Rescue was established in 1997 and provides prevention, protection and response services to over 800,000 people in East Sussex and the City of Brighton & Hove. The Fire Authority manages 27 fire stations and has been updating their floors to maximise safety with the help of RESYN. With this in mind, they needed a range of suitable slip-resistant floor finishes to withstand their heavy-duty fire engines.
The Fire Authority has been working with RESYN for the last 10 years to ensure their stations are compliant when it comes to Health and Safety by installing durable, slip-resistant floor finishes in their appliance bays. A total of 13 stations have been completed to date.
Most of the stations still had their original tiled flooring that did not provide adequate slip resistance in wet conditions. There were also concerns over the durability of the tiles which were often breaking up due to the weight of the appliances, weighing on average between 12-13 tonnes.
The Degafloor FB system, recommended and installed by RESYN, offers the ideal solution for appliance bays. It is highly durable and slip-resistant even when floors are regularly exposed to wet and oily liquids, and can be installed with minimum disruption and downtime.
The Degafloor range of products is based on MMA resins which are thermoplastics that achieve a chemical bond between each installation layer, resulting in a monolithic finish. Each new layer chemically fuses to the previous layer (or existing subfloor) creating a virtually unbreakable bond. This unique chemical bonding process means that the resins can be applied directly onto the original tiles without having to remove them, providing they are securely fixed. This offers an exceptional time-saving benefit for fire stations which only have small windows for refurbishment. For areas where tiles are broken and in need of repair RESYN can install a quick-curing Degafloor repair mortar reducing time on refurbishment projects and providing resistant floor finishes.
The Fire Service had made it very clear from the start that time was an issue when undertaking any refurbishment projects as the appliances cannot be stored out of the bays overnight or for long periods. All of the Degafloor products are fully cured within just 2 hours of installation, allowing the fire engines to be stored back in the bays at the end of the day.
RESYN has continued to develop their relationship with East Sussex Fire Authority and has recently completed two more station flooring refurbishments at Battle and Hastings.
