interiors

Why Are Cubicle Curtains Essential in Healthcare Facilities?

Customised curtains and the appropriate corresponding track systems offer a wealth of benefits in all fields related to healthcare. Generally, these provide a division for a variety of reasons between patients, healthcare providers, and employees in different healthcare settings.

It is in your healthcare organisation’s best interest to invest in quality custom-made medical curtains and hospital tracks. Here are some examples of facilities and situations that demonstrate their necessity and the benefits they provide.

Hospitals and Clinics

Hospitals have large rooms divided into several areas that are separated by medical curtains, and smaller ones that require the same for privacy and minimising external noises. School and physicians’ clinics similarly can take advantage of these curtains to divide common areas to offer privacy for their patients.

In addition, cubicle curtains can help limit the spread of bacteria and other infection vectors. Hospital-acquired infections are greatly reduced in areas that use frequently sanitised and laundered curtains and partitions.

Research Facilities

Cubicle curtains help partition out work zones inside research facilities and are particularly important in preventing cross-contamination between setups or research and development areas. These also address the issue of privacy for sensitive setups and sterility for the entire facility in general.

Universities that have medical centres or programmes enjoy the same benefits that hospitals and clinics do from using medical curtains, with the added advantage of providing further privacy for students so that they can concentrate on their work better.

Specialised Medical Facilities

Facilities that offer specialised services, such as dialysis clinics or blood drawing locations, are often separate from general hospitals. They require and benefit from medical curtains in all of the same ways other facilities do.

Patient-related distress regarding procedures is a serious problem for many people undergoing long-term maintenance like dialysis. That can contribute to the exacerbation of their symptoms, which makes medical management more difficult. It is best to provide cubicle curtains as partitions to ease their mind and give them privacy.

Mother and Baby and Birthing Centers

Privacy during bonding and sterility for ensured safety and health are of particular interest for both the mother and the infant in maternal care. These types of curtains help address these concerns. Using partitions specifically for medical use is a globally recognised standard for birthing centres and maternity facilities.

Benefits of Customised Curtains

With all of these potential advantages, it becomes doubly important to ensure that your cubicle curtains and the corresponding hospital tracks are tailor-made to your organisation’s needs. Custom-order curtains and tracks allow you to specify what you need.

There are commercial-grade materials and equipment that assure a long-lasting, durable product, anti-microbial materials to cut down on infection transmissions, mesh fabrics to allow for better ventilation, and even fire safety standards compliance. The choice of tracks can also reflect your needs, as hooks, grommets, and break-away curtains can all be specified as well.

You can request physical alterations to better suit your current infrastructure—from cutaways to account for existing walls and dividers, specific widths and heights for every area and purpose, right down to the presence or absence of any seams in the curtains. Furthermore, colours and patterns can assist both patients and staff in locating and identifying different areas and departments.

Conclusion

Customised cubicle curtains are a worthwhile investment for healthcare businesses of all sizes and purposes. The benefits they provide are essential to smooth operation, meaning that the initial cost for quality-made products can be offset by many years of dependable use.

Get your cubicle curtains from a trusted source, like us at Direct Fabrics. Since 2011, we have provided superior products and exceptional service to our customers in the UK. Get in touch now!

Hotels and B&Bs: A Quick Guide to Flame Retardant Fabrics

As a business owner, especially in the hospitality industry, you are duty-bound to ensure that your guests remain safe. This responsibility encompasses reducing the risk of fire, along with fire safety for both guests and staff.

Hotels and bed & breakfasts (B&B) are regulated by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Here, the order ensures that the building owners take full responsibility for fire safety compliance, which includes efforts like purchasing fabrics and furnishings that meet British Standards.

If you’re a business owner looking for more ways to fire-proof your hotel or B&B, here is a simple guide for you. Here are all your questions about flame retardant fabrics, answered!

1 - How do I choose the right fabric for my hotel or bed & breakfast?

The right fabric falls under specific guidelines, as imposed by the British Standard for Flame Retardancy. Hotels and B&Bs must meet the following requirements:

• BS5867 Part 2 B & 2 C: These pertain to the standard details, which are the requirements for flame retardant curtains and blinds fabrics. Part 2 B means that an item still passes the retardancy test after it was washed at least 12 times. Part 2 C, on the other hand, pertains to inherently flame retardant fabrics. These can be washed up to 50 times and remain fire resistant.
• BS7175: This standard mostly pertains to bedding. The fabrics used need to come in polyester, as these are durable even with continued washing.
• BS5852: This requirement pertains to upholstery fabrics, such as flame retardant curtains. These fabrics are then tested using cigarettes and matches—anything that catches fire will fail the fire safety standards.

To ensure that you’re purchasing quality flame retardant fabrics, transact with a reputable company. The company should meet the requirements listed above, especially the standards imposed by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

2 - What happens if I don’t use flame retardant fabric?

If you remain unaware or blatantly disregard the need for flame retardant furnishing regulations, you place lives in jeopardy. Such consequences remain apparent in the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire, where 72 lives had been lost.

Due to the inadequate materials used in the building, the hazardous fire quickly spread and engulfed the entire building of 24 floors. It took over 60 hours for the flames to be fully extinguished. Unfortunately, the speed at which the fire travelled left people with little chance of escape. With such a tragedy in mind, it is a stark reminder always to choose flame-retardant fabrics.

3 - Should I use flame retardant sprays or inherently flame-retardant fabrics?

There are two available options for flame retardant fabrics:

• The use of flame-retardant chemical: This essentially means the application of chemicals to an untreated fabric, which then improves its fire resistance capabilities. Unfortunately, this is only a temporary solution and re-application may be needed after washing.
• The use of inherently flame-retardant fabrics: These are fabrics already made with fire resistance in the yarn, and they are the more sensible choice for business owners. They’re more durable and provide total protection against the fire. They’re also waterproof and have antimicrobial properties, making them the perfect investment for your hotel or B&B.

Conclusion

Running a hotel or bed & breakfast means you’re responsible for many lives, which include not just your guests but your staff too. You must exhaust all means to ensure that every single corner of your establishment is safe, especially when tragedy strikes.

One of the best ways to begin is by purchasing flame retardant fabrics. Although quite simple as compared to ensuring that fire exits remain accessible, fire-resistant fabrics can save lives.

For the best selection of flame retardant fabrics in the UK, Direct Fabrics is the place to go. We offer you a wide range of patterns and textures to choose from!

Why Flame-Retardant Bed Sheets Are Needed in Care Homes

With tens of thousands of fires occurring in properties all across the United Kingdom every year, it’s clear that the British citizens have a threat that can affect their lives at any time. Whether it is during the morning or the afternoon, fires can strike and end up damaging properties, injuring occupants and causing lasting damage.

Among all the different catalysts for a full-on blaze that is caused by clumsiness, carelessness, or faulty wiring, there’s one part of your property that’s surprisingly more combustible than you might expect: your bedsheets.

Why normal sheets can pose a danger

What most people don’t understand about bed sheets is that they pose a significant amount of risk to any occupant if a fire occurs.

In the same way that wood, plastic, and fabrics can easily catch a flame, sheets made of cotton, linen, and other synthetic materials are prone to catching fire in a matter of seconds. In most cases, these fortresses of comfort can quickly turn into a flammable trap that will lead to extensive burns and fatalities should unfortunate circumstances occur.

Fortunately, mitigating the risk of being burnt or having your care home burn down when you’re away can be remedied. To keep your care home residents safe, you should depend on flame-retardant sheets.

How flame retardant sheets can help mitigate risk factors at care homes

Although they may sound unfamiliar at first, flame-retardant sheets are a dependable solution that will provide an adequate amount of protection from derived risks of flame.

Such fittings contain materials formulated to handle the factor of having multiple sheets burn at once when provoked by fire. Through the use of dependable bedding, potential total fires can be halted because the bed—which is arguably one of the most fire-prone areas of any property—will be provided with a necessary first line of defence and protection.

Here are a few common human errors and risks that flame-retardant sheets can help prevent:

• Toppled burning candles
• Wrongly-placed heating systems
• Electrical issues

What allows these sheets to cut out the risk of fires as promised?

Generally speaking, the driving force behind a flame-retardant bedsheets’ effectiveness lies in the consistent application of set standards and guidelines in the manufacturing process. Regulations—such as the standard BS7175—provide manufacturers and suppliers with the necessary reference points and requirements that must be adhered to so that a reliable and robust product is made.

Beyond standards and guidelines, what makes modern flame-resistant bedding and sheet options capable of protecting any property also lies in the materials used in its manufacturing. By embedding the necessary chemical components and structural fibres, you can have peace of mind without worrying about the safety of your care home residents and the risk of having your property go aflame!

Conclusion

Protecting your patients at night from the risk of an untimely fire is possible with the help of flame-retardant bed sheets. By investing in a set from a reliable supplier, you’ll avoid becoming another statistic in the UK fire registry in the long run without doing anything drastic or costly!

Direct Fabrics is the leading supplier of flame-retardant bed sheets and fire-resistant curtains for businesses, hotels, schools, and care homes in the UK. Check out our online shop today!