Is your bus floor as safe as you think?

As an organisation dedicated to achieving a zero-harm culture, we are dedicated not only to helping our customers reach their business targets, but also to making safety a number one priority. In order to achieve better fuel economy, a lighter weight bus floor is the obvious choice - but are all the aspects you need in a safe transport floor upheld over time and heavy-duty usage? With the introduction of Transport for London’s BSS regulations, never before has it been more crucial to have the best of both worlds.

Combining the engineering skills and innovative thinking of our technical team with the in-depth knowledge of the industry from our sales representatives, we have achieved a lighter-weight portfolio without affecting the level of safety our floors offer, nor any of their physical properties. While lightweight components are important to the specification of your vehicles, this should not come at the cost of the safety of your passengers.

Why safety?

We believe that safety should be your utmost concern when putting together your bus or coach. With the combined risks of wet weather, standing passengers, and a moving vehicle, the chances of a slip on any bus can be significant.

According to data collected by Transport for London, in 2017, 56% of injuries to passengers on board London buses were caused by slips, trips and falls. These types of incidents leave operators open to compensation claims. Slips trips and falls could potentially cost the bus industry over £10 million in one year - with legal practices offering as much as £13,250 for personal injury claims on public transport. And that’s not even considering the delays to your services that these accidents can cause.

In an investigation from the HSE, flooring involved in a slip, trip or fall incident will be subject to a pendulum test, one of the only tests that can be performed on flooring in situ, to ascertain if the flooring in question has a good enough slip resistance rating to mitigate risk. While there are other tests that can be used, the pendulum test is seen by the HSE as the most reliable, and in 2019, TfL is looking to introduce very clear new safety standards regarding the slip resistance of bus floors based on pendulum test values.

All Altro transport floors offer a sustained PTV of ≥36 – a valuable quality which you can find published on all of our technical data. In order to protect your passengers as much as possible, ensure that all floor coverings have at least a PTV of 36 or higher from new, and that this is sustained above this level for the life of the product. Only then can you be sure that you are mitigating slip risks to one in a million.

By choosing an Altro floor for your vehicle, you are making a demonstrable commitment to the safety of your passengers, journey after journey, step after step.

To find out more, contact us here to arrange a presentation on the BSS and how you can make sure that you’re compliant.