Short term financial gains should not outweigh long term safety requirements when it comes to purchasing decision, especially when looking at safety critical purchases such as floor grating.

National technical sales consultant at Andrew Mentis, Lance Quinlan says it is imperative that engineers, architects, specifiers, quantity surveyors and buyers understand the implications of buying inferior floor grating.

“The most important thing to remember is that floor grating is an engineered product, and it is essential that the manufacturing process ensure the final product has the appropriate load bearing capacity,” Quinlan says. “This ensures optimum safety over the long term and must form part of the decision making process. Buying cheap will not only compromise safety, but could result in injury to personnel working in areas where floor grating is used.”

Andrew Mentis has been producing Rectagrid RS40 (40/40) floor grating for more than forty years, and uses a unique compressive pressure locking system, whereby the bearer bars and transversals of the Rectagrid RS40 (40/40) form an exact pitch of 40 mm by 40 mm, with the bearer bars being perfectly upright and without any sideways lean. The locking method at the intersections utilises the full depth of the bearer bar ensuring absolute structural integrity and load bearing capacity.

“Significantly, Mentis Rectagrid RS40 (40/40) has proven itself over years of application in the construction, infrastructure and mining sectors, and for many years has been the benchmark for floor grating,” he says.

Quinlan explains that the manufacturing process guarantees close tolerances are maintained with the round transversal bar fitting tightly through the pierced bearer bar to achieve the superior structural integrity of the product. “This is what customers have come to accept as the benchmark when it comes to quality and load bearing capacity with floor grating, and with our process there are no cracks or crevices at intersections thus eliminating the possibility of corrosion which could weaken the floor grating,” he says.

He adds that because the intersection locking is so positive and strong, it is not necessary to band the grating. Andrew Mentis has, however, gone a step further and it is possible for the panels to leave the rolling mill finished on half pitch all round. This means that panels can be laid adjacent to each other to maintain a perfectly patterned floor with no banding. This is known as the ‘open ended system’. The company, however, also offers customers banded grating and has the facilities to accommodate this.

Andrew Mentis has also extended its range of floor grating to include products with pitches of 45 mm by 40 mm RS40 (45/40), 45 mm by 50 mm RS40 (45/50) and still makes a 80 mm by 40 mm pitch which is known as RS80 (80/40). Stock panels are available in 2.4 metre by 1.2 metre for easy installation or for the customer’s own tailoring.