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All The Social Distancing Floor Markers A Business Needs

Social distancing is now part of every business and service, and it’s unlikely to go away any time soon.

Your business should ensure they have everything they need to enforce social distancing legislation, since entering inside a building is where most people are likely to come into contact with another person, passing down aisles and moving through corridors.

The latest official guidelines recommend the public stay at least 2 metres apart from one another (6.5 feet in old money) – but simply displaying a notice isn’t effective enough. Some businesses require that all patrons enter with a shopping trolley to help them start apart from one another – but not all business have trolleys available, and others have premises that are simply too small to be able to use them.

The solution, then, is to use floor markings.

Rawlins Paints stock a wide range of floor marking tapes, route marking systems and information signs and markers for fast and easy application to walls and floors, concrete and tarmac, in areas and buildings such as:

  • Paths and areas outside of businesses and services
  • School playgrounds, college, and university grounds
  • Shops, stores, and supermarkets
  • Factories, workshops, and warehouses
  • Medical centres, hospitals and surgeries, clinics, and veterinarians
  • Corridors, waiting areas and staff rooms

Floor Marking Tapes

Floor marking tapes are a great alternative to using paints and resins:

  • Quick and easy to apply
  • No drying times
  • Return areas back into service immediately after application
  • No smells or odours
  • Can be removed for disposal or repositioning

When social distancing measures were first announced, any old tape was used to mark out the minimum distances allowed inside of buildings through lines and zones. As time went on and social distancing became the accepted normality, these cheap tapes and markings faded from exposure to light and were scuffed up and removed by wear and tear from foot traffic.

Tapes that easily rip off can be a tripping hazard. If your business or service is going to require customers and visitors to adhere to distancing measures then these markings need to be durable and easily visible, or else it will become a regular expense:

  • Buy new tape
  • Exclude people from the area whilst you mark it out again
  • Remove old tape
  • Clean the old residue from the surface
  • Install new tape

This repeated procedure costs time and money that businesses can ill-afford when limiting how many customers are in the building at any one time, having to queue up outside.

Our range of line marking tapes are tough and durable, able to withstand external conditions, and apply to concrete and tarmac surfaces easily. They are available in a wide range of colours to perfectly stand out against the surface you wish to mark out and can simply be removed, should the layout of your social distancing plan need to change.

Choosing a colour

As a general rule, choose a colour that contrasts clearly with your floor.

Supermarkets traditionally have light-coloured flooring so to appear light and airy to make the customer feel comfortable as they shop. A dark-coloured floor marking would have a much better chance of being seen on such a floor.

Conversely, some services and work areas have darker floors so that dust and markings, such as oil stains, are less noticeable and the floor appears cleaner. Lighter-coloured floor tapes can work better on these.

Some visual impairments find technical and sharp colour schemes hard to notice, with patterns such as chevrons becoming practically invisible to the eye. This is why stair nosing are now a single plain colour and not a yellow/black or red/white hazard strip, so you should bare this in mind when choosing your floor markings.

Should social distancing continue into the winter months then reflective and luminous visual aids may be required; our selection of marking tapes includes photoluminescent tapes and floor markers that charge from both natural light and incandescent sources and then glow wuring darkness, making them ideal for use indoors and outside for when it gets dark, or in areas that are prone to power failure.

Route Marking Systems

You can communicate directions to customers clearly and more effectively with the use of route marking systems. These collections of symbols, lines and icons create visual guides and zones that are uniform so that personnel know what to look out for and how to respond to instructions and directions.

Creating zones will help visitors to your business or service understand your social distancing procedures:

  • Navigating car parks and forecourts towards queues and away from exits to avoid contact
  • Helping students and staff stay a safe distance apart on playgrounds and inside school, college and university buildings
  • For queuing into a building, especially if patrons are required to line up around bends
  • Implementing one-way systems around aisles with arrows and symbols
  • Avoiding chokepoints by guiding customers away from potential close contact
  • Providing clear indicators for where to stand when queuing for, and using, checkouts

Just like floor marking tapes, our route marking systems are quick and easy to apply to tarmac and concrete as an alternative to paint and resin systems, able to be lifted off for repositioning should legislation change in the future.

No drying times.

No smells.

No odours.

Information Signs for Floors and Walls

Some establishments may need to display information alongside floor markings and route systems.

Like marking tapes, at the start of social distancing the easy option was to simply print off text onto an A4 sheet of paper and affix it with tape to the floor or wall. Months later these signs are scuffed, ripped, torn, or missing altogether as they are not durable to wear and tear from foot traffic and the working environment, such as pallets or cages scraping against doors and walls.

Without regular checks on home-made signage, vital and valuable information could be missed by visitors and lead to an accident, or a breach of health and safety – yet another untimely expense for businesses and services.

As with route marking systems, using a uniform style of information signage helps visitors to your business spot them and take notice of the advice they give subconsciously, often relying on colours and icons. This not only makes your establishment appear professional, the signs will manifest themselves as being more “official” and should help ensure the advice is adhered to more frequently.

Some signage will still have to be designed and printed on the premises, however, for instances such as:

  • Opening times that may have to change regularly due to updated legislation
  • Specified shopping hours for essential workers and elderly customers
  • Limitations on the number of patrons allowed inside at any one time
  • Designated entrances and exits
  • Rules and guidance for using checkout areas
  • Nominated areas for “click and collect” customers
  • Further clarifications on social distancing measures

To prevent the scuffs and tears mentioned above, using tough and durable covers will keep such home-made signs intact so that information isn’t removed unintentionally or through wear and tear. As with line-marking tapes and route systems, PermaCover can be easily removed for relocation or to update the signage underneath. ColorCover is also available, featuring different coloured borders to highlight your notice.

Should you require any help at all regarding social distancing markers, our technical support team are on hand to advise you on the best floor markings for your business or service; give them a call on 0113 2455450 (option 2) or send a message to [email protected].

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