When shopping for these mats, there are a few considerations to keep in mind: while there are many different thicknesses for wellness mats, the thickest is not necessarily the best fit for your kitchen. Find mats that provide proper springback and support without increasing the risk of tripping on uneven surfaces. Another factor to think about is the ease with which you will be able to clean the mats. The best commercially available anti-fatigue mats are made of durable, water-resistant materials like rubber, PVC, or nitrile, which also means that cleaning them is as simple as hosing them down--and maybe, occasionally, scrubbing them with a floor brush--and letting them dry. A good restaurant supply store will have a variety of options to choose from, which will allow you to make sure that your employees can work not just in safety but in better comfort--and more comfortable employees are employees who can work harder and longer.Safety is a primary concern in the kitchen, whether it’s a restaurant kitchen, catering area, or home kitchen; and one of the most important--but least thought about--factors in maintaining safety in the cooking environment is floor mats. While restaurant supply stores carry a wide array of options, many buyers are somewhat guilty of looking at the issue as one of minimizing cost; they stick to the bare minimum of what they need--in their opinion--to prevent the most obvious injuries in the kitchen area. But there is a factor that many people don’t consider: while anti-slip mats do indeed help prevent people from injuring themselves from sliding on a hard surface, they don’t necessarily work as hard at preventing the full range of injuries that can happen from the floor.
Most kitchen managers and other staff responsible for keeping things safe in the back of house recognize the need for anti-slip mats as a general rule: any environment where food and/or beverages are prepared is going to have spills happen. Water gets on the floor, even if nothing else does. But preventing slip-and-fall accidents is only the beginning of what mats should do in the restaurant or home kitchen environment. Especially in the commercial kitchen, where staff stand for hours on end, mats should not just prevent slips--they can and should be an important tool to combat the kinds of injuries and physical stress that come from impact against hard flooring, and fatigue.
Enter wellness mats; while anti-slip mats function specifically and only to provide friction to avoid slipping on a wet surface, wellness mats provide an extra layer of cushion and shock absorption to prevent fatigue as well as repetitive stress injuries that can inevitably arise from walking, running, and otherwise moving on top of an unyielding surface. While most, if not all wellness mats also provide anti-slip properties, their focus is just as much on putting a buffer between the foot and the hard surface underneath. Generally, they are made of similar materials to anti-slip mats, but thicker, and with a slightly different design from top to bottom, in order to allow for a sort of “springing” action. The best wellness mats have a sloped edge to reduce tripping, and are easy to clean.
Of course, when discussing this particular investment, many restaurant owners, kitchen managers, or even home cooks will ask what difference it makes. Hours of standing on tile or other hard floors create stress injuries through the feet, legs, and even up into the back--which can lead in business environments to increased absenteeism, and of course the problem of work-injuries that cost increasingly more money to treat. Lack of cushioning can lead to problems ranging from plantar fasciitis to lower back injury, to knee conditions--all of which can be very costly indeed to treat, and which are, of course, very painful to live with.
A general guide for placement of wellness or anti-shock mats is to keep them in areas where the most traffic and standing occur. This seems obvious, but there are some areas of a kitchen that clearly are not going to present as much hazard as others; as a result, you should focus efforts on providing the cushioning benefits of the mats where people are more likely to be standing for the longest periods--so for example, in front of the range, or along preparation areas. By using anti-fatigue mats that also have anti-slip properties, you can take care of two issues in one.
