If you operate a warehouse, there are lots of different things on your mind relating to how you manage it. The layout is vital, the equipment/machinery/vehicles you have are critical – but what about the flooring? Warehouse flooring isn’t something you tend to think about until you have a warehouse to manage. Suddenly, you realise that it’s way more important than you thought.

Why is this the case, and what impact does the right/wrong flooring have on your business?

Health & Safety

Primarily, you should be concerned about the floor’s impact on your business’s health and safety. The wrong floor can be an absolute nightmare that causes safety hazards all the time. Mainly, the concern is how grippy the surface is. A bad flooring option will be very slippery and means that people can fall while carrying things. This is why resin flooring tends to be popular amongst warehouse owners. Any decent epoxy resin flooring provider can create flooring for you that has a protective non-slip layer. In turn, the chances of people falling and hurting themselves will diminish.

Workload

Secondly, the warehouse flooring matters in terms of your workload. How much work goes on in your warehouse every day? More to the point, how much pressure is put on your floor? If you have heavy machinery or vehicles moving around or sitting on it, then the floor is under constant tension. Therefore, you need the right flooring option to stand up to this. As such, you never see warehouses with laminate or vinyl flooring as neither can handle constant foot traffic and heavy loads without breaking very quickly. You need to find the flooring that will handle your workload!

On a similar note, you can talk about workload in terms of productivity. The right flooring will be easy for everyone and everything to move around on. Thus, more work can get done – plus, if you refer back to the first point, fewer accidents will happen. So, there will be fewer stoppages in the days and weeks, further enhancing productivity.

Brand Image

At some point, people will visit your warehouse. This could be potential clients/suppliers, and you may also post pictures or videos of it online. In either case, the flooring plays a big role in your brand image. Rubbish flooring can look old and dirty and really tarnish your image. But, if you have some shiny floor that looks very impressive, your image is enhanced. People will think highly of your business because of how clean and modern the warehouse looks. In turn, this might help you influence people’s decisions – such as choosing you as their supplier or agreeing to do business with you.

See, the flooring in a warehouse is much more than just something to stand on. Perhaps the biggest mistake you can make is assuming that standard concrete flooring is all you need. This couldn’t be further from the truth – if you want your warehouse to have better H&S, improved productivity, and a good brand image, you must find suitable flooring.