Maintenance and unplanned downtime cost companies billions of rands annually. While not all factors can be controlled, ensuring plant structures and equipment are kept in good condition are primary contributors to a productive and profitable operation.

Not only does the choice of appropriate flooring contribute to a safer work environment, but it can additionally decrease the need for maintenance.

Lance Quinlan, national technical sales consultant at Andrew Mentis, explains that floor grating is the ideal choice in both indoor and outdoor locations where the passage of light, air and heat are important.

“The structural integrity and non-slip characteristics of Mentis Rectagrid RS40 40/40 floor grating contributes significantly to employee safety,” Quinlan explains. “The design incorporates positive raised sections that create multi-directional obstructions on the top of each bearer bar, allowing for a far larger surface contact area.”

“Because strength to weight ratio is important to our customers, we discuss each customer’s exacting needs at a detailed site meeting. This information, together with structural steel drawings supplied by the customer, is used by our processing department to compile a layout for the required products.

An evaluation of the ambient climatic conditions, the volume of traffic expected on the floor grating and a thorough understanding of the load bearing capacity of grating combine to ensure that the correct floor grating product is selected for an application,” he says.

Quinlan points out that the RS40 40/40 floor grating is designed and manufactured with corrosion resistance and longevity in mind at the company’s world class facility in Elandsfontein, Johannesburg. “We use a pressure locking system, which we pioneered, to form an exact pitch of 40 mm by 40 mm. Quality control ensures that close tolerances are maintained, and that the round transversal bar fits tightly through the pierced bearer bar.

“We further arranged for the panels to leave the rolling mill finished on half pitch all round. This means we can now lay panels adjacent to each other to maintain a perfectly patterned floor with no banding. This is known as the ‘open ended system’. All transverse bars are 7.7 mm in diameter and all panels finish on half pitches in both directions with allowance for 4 mm clearance between panels. Saddle clamps automatically hold panels at full pitching space when installed,” he adds.

Floor grating is used in a wide variety of applications, including access walkways on process plants and in factories and manufacturing facilities. Andrew Mentis’ RS40 40/04 floor grating uses only the highest quality raw materials sourced from Mittal and Highveld Steel. For highly corrosive environments, the floor grating can be hot dip galvanised or manufactured in stainless steel or 3CR12.

According to Quinlan, a primary concern raised by customers is that floor grating needs to be able to withstand the rigours of time. “Organisations simply do not have the time to replace floor grating that is unstable due to inferior design, manufacture or materials. Downtime is simply not tolerated.”