In any working environment where the safety of people depends upon the quality of the products used for walkways, cutting corners could be a recipe for disaster.
As a leading local manufacturer, Andrew Mentis has over 65 years’ experience in the manufacture of walkway products and the company is probably best qualified to comment on this. This is according to Lance Quinlan, national technical sales consultant at Andrew Mentis, who stresses that the use of a quality manufactured product is imperative.
“We have a solid track record of quality manufacture when it comes to engineered walkway materials including RS40 grating, expanded metal and Die Line. We simply do not compromise when it comes to quality,” he says.
Quinlan explains that when it comes to walkway products, it is a case of horses for courses. Probably the most commonly-known of all walkway products in industry is the Mentis RS40 40/40 floor grating.
“This is our number one premium brand, and is often considered the floor grating to have,” he says. He notes that the product has the kind of top-of-mind awareness in its market similar to which Hoover has enjoyed in the vacuum cleaner market.
The most important factor in flooring is the load-bearing capacity of the product. The design, engineering and manufacture of steel floor grating products have particular relevance to their structural integrity, and floor grating should always be viewed as an engineered product. It is formed through a process of compressive locking of the load bearing flat bars (bearer bars) and the round bar transversals to form an exact 40 mm2 pitch with openings of 35,5 mm x 32,4 mm and is designed with specific load-bearing characteristics.
Quinlan notes that expanded metal also has a wide range of flooring applications, and is ideal for catwalks, conveyor and access walkways and platforms. Good examples are walkways on large billboards, which need to ensure safe access to the billboard, as well as maintenance walkways on process plants.
Expanded metal walkways are lightweight and self-cleaning, have non-slip surfaces, interlocks at the joints, and hence no butt welds, as well as allowing the passage of air and light. Durable industrial flooring with excellent underfoot conditions is possible with expanded metal walkways and flooring from Andrew Mentis.
As a complete industrial flooring supplier, the company can help customers identify the most appropriate flooring solution for their application requirements.
Another of its products, which is ideal for incline conveyor walkways in particular, is Die-Line. This lightweight and economical walkway system offers flexibility in walkway design, is easy to erect and has excellent non-slip characteristics.
This range of positive grip-pressed section walkways is designed as complete walkway sections with integral kick-plates formed as a single unit. The elimination of heavy stringers or separate kick plates makes Die-Line quick, easy and safe to erect. The sections are designed for longitudinal spans and have a high strength-to-mass ratio.
“Emerging contractors are also increasingly using the company’s products as they become more aware of the safety concerns when it comes to walkway products,” he concludes.