Swarf mats play a critical role in maintaining the safety and cleanliness of a manufacturing facility by helping to catch machining debris or swarf. This type of matting is popular in workshops where metals and wood are machined into products, as well as food production facilities where produce is prone to falling on the floor.
These Swarf Mats allow your employees to remove and collect swarf such as wood chippings, metal filings or plastic chips from their shoes, keeping floors cleaner and reducing the risk of slip accidents. They help employers to meet their health and safety obligations whilst reducing costs.
Unlike other types of industrial matting, swarf mats are designed with specific features which enable them to scrape and collect debris that would otherwise spread over a larger area. The three main types of swarf mat are;
Ring-Mat – Ring-Mats are commonly found in machine shops that work with metal, wood and plastic. These feature a dense pattern of holes that act as small wells that capture and trap swarf pieces. The ring pattern also allows fluids to easily drain to the base of the swarf mat, keeping the surrounding floors dry whilst reducing slip hazards. At the end of the working day, the mat can be lifted and moved so that the swarf captured by the mat can be easily swept up and disposed of.
Scraper Mats – For facilities that work with softer materials, such as food products, a scraper mat will be more effective at reducing the swarf. This type of swarf mat features a series of raised circles with several rubber fingers that actively attach to and scrapes the swarf when feet brush over them.
Tacky Mats – When clean floors are an essential requirement in a facility, sticky tacky mats can be used to trap fine pieces of dirt and dust. These help to prevent even the smallest particles from entering a building, so are popular in laboratories, hospitals and clean rooms. They feature a set of sticky sheets that can be peeled off and replaced periodically to ensure consistent performance.
The main benefit swarf mats offer is that they capture and isolate the swarf within the area of the mat, stopping it from spreading further around the building. This helps keep floors clean and, more importantly, safe. Slip accidents and falls account for 29% of all accidents in UK workplaces, most of which are caused by unclean and wet floors. (Source: hse.gov.uk/statistics)
A significant additional benefit is that all our swarf mats also offer exceptional Anti-Fatigue properties, which ease pressure on the feet, knees and lower back while standing on them. As well as improving morale and helping you look after your employees, these mats can save you money by preventing injuries that can build up over long periods of time, which cause many days lost to sick leave. In turn, this will improve your staff retention and efficiency.
Swarf mat advantages include;
The team at First Mats can help you with everything you need to find the right swarf mats for your workplace, ensuring compliance with industry guidelines. Whether you are looking for a mat for a single machine operator or matting for an entire workshop, we can supply you with the best-value products for your needs.
The focus of First Mats is to offer mats of a premium standard at an affordable price, which is why so many businesses across the UK make First Mats their First Choice for industrial matting.
On the First Mats website, you will find an extensive range of premium Swarf Mats, but choosing the right one for you may seem difficult at first. That’s why we have selected a few of our most popular swarf mats for you and recommendations for where they could be used.
Workshops – Our Swarf Catch Mat is an excellent option for workshops, whether it's for plastic, metalworking or woodworking. This is one of our best-selling industrial mats and offers the great all-round performance of anti-fatigue, anti-slip and wear resistance properties.
Food Production – A mat used in commercial kitchens and food production facilities must be resistant to oils and grease while trapping spillages. Fortunately, our 100% Nitrile Assured Scraper has all of these qualities, which helps to maintain the stringent levels of cleanliness and hygiene expected in these environments.
Oil Prone Floors – Oil spillages are inevitable in some industrial environments, such as machine shops. Oil can substantially increase the risk of slips for workers, whether it's a leaking machine or accidental spillage. In these environments, we would recommend our SturdySafe Blue. Made from a mixture of rubber and nitrile, this swarf mat can be used in almost any industrial area, including workshops, welding bays and kitchens, whilst resisting oil that causes damage to most natural rubber mats.
Large Industrial Floors – If you need to cover a large floor area, then our Heavy Duty Modular Workshop Mats may be just what you are looking for. This product is designed as an interlocking system of durable rubber swarf mats, and with each mat tile being 90cm x 150cm in size, a large area of flooring can be covered with just a few tiles.
Hospitals and Laboratories – For any area where cleanliness is monitored to a particulate level, our Tacky Step Mat will stick to dust and dirt that touches its surface, lifting it from shoes and keeping floors incredibly clean.
To help make your life easier, we have also designed a filtering system that allows you to refine your selection by features, size and colour, which can be seen on the left-hand side of the page (on desktop browsers.)
First Mats only supplies matting that is of the highest quality standards and meets internationally recognised standards. Each of our mats is rated in three categories that all affect its performance and lifespan.
The ratings for each swarf mat are displayed on their product page. The higher the rating shown, the better they perform.
For open-top swarf mats, such as the Ring-Mat designs, the debris filters through holes in the mat, allowing it to be swept up later on. Solid-top versions, or “Scraper Mats”, remove the swarf and retain it for later removal. The easiest ways to clean the mats are by shaking debris off and onto a floor to be swept up or cleaning with a hose or pressure washer.
More Information:
To find out more about Swarf Mats, please see our comprehensive guide on our blog here: What are Swarf Mats?
For everything you need to know about swarf mats, speak to the friendly team at First Mats today!
Rubber Workshop Swarf Catch Mat
["Great universal mat","Excellent drainage","Available in multiple sizes"]
1 to 2 working days £29.90 Excl. VAT
SturdySafe Heavy-Duty Rubber Swarf Mats
["Rated for Heavy Industrial use","Withstand temperatures up to 130°C","Traps swarf and drains liquids"]
2 to 3 working days £56.00 Excl. VAT
Assured-Scraper Anti-Slip Rubber Scraper Matting
["100% Nitrile for oil resistance","Scraper surface for added grip","Extra large sizes available"]
2 to 3 working days £45.60 Excl. VAT
Swarf Mats are a type of industrial floor matting designed to capture debris from machining and production processes whilst providing a safe and comfortable working area for the user. Many different matting products are available on the market, which can be used for many different purposes or in different environments. Swarf Mats, on the other hand, exist for a very specific reason. Swarf is the debris that is produced from a machining or finishing process. In a workshop, for example, lathes will spin metal into the correct shape creating lots of tiny flakes of metal that are flung in several directions,...
