Keeping hot air out and cold air in is something many manufacturers of various products struggle with. If you are storing any temperature-sensitive items, food, vaccines, medicines or chemicals or even machinery and equipment, whatever it is, maintaining a consistent, safe temperature is a must. Yet you have to juggle temperature maintenance with people entering and leaving your facility, which has to happen but can make it incredibly difficult to remain within the critical limits for product integrity.
Not only can this cause you problems with the safety of your products, but it could also land you in hot water with the law. Abiding by food hygiene or sensitive product storage laws whilst keeping onside with The Health and Safety Executive is a must. The HSE set out the requirements for storage and working with all temperature-sensitive products, including chilled and frozen food. This includes providing a suitable environment not just for your products but for your workforce too. But there are ways to avoid getting into hot water with the law and protecting your products, one of which is cold storage strip curtains.
Cold Storage Strip Curtains
Cold stores and freezer rooms are the solutions to most temperature-sensitive products, but how can you maintain the optimum temperature with the traffic flow of people continually coming and going? A solid door is likely to be an impractical nightmare as it would spend more time wide open, compromising the temperature control within the sensitive area. It also relies on the workforce to close it behind them.
Maintaining cold environments protected from outside heat is one of the reasons that many businesses choose to install curtains in place of doors to create a localised refrigeration enclosure. Luckily, you can opt for a wide range of PVC strip curtains, including those graded especially for polar use. They keep the cold in while letting people, forklifts and products enter and leave with minimal disruption to the environment in the climate-controlled area.
The Benefits of Choosing Strip Curtains
As long as they are manufactured to the correct specification, strip curtains could be suitable for all openings to protect weather and insects, maintain temperatures for sensitive products, or clearly define and segregate working areas. Doors and walls create barriers and obstacles to free movement between zones. Strip curtains and crash doors can therefore improve productivity and protect environments in a more work-friendly way. There are other benefits too, including:
- Adaptable to fit any size opening and easily installed to cover from floor to ceiling.
- Transparent to provide a safe working transition for users, they can see who is coming towards them.
- Easy to enter and exit. Curtains will return quickly into position after forklifts or staff enter or leave the controlled area – no need to worry about closing doors or being met by unseen oncoming traffic.
- Perfect for Cold Stores, freezers, chilled rooms and refrigerated vehicles, where temperature fluctuations can damage goods or breach storage and transport laws.
- Cold Lock Insulated curtains provide practical barriers against warm air for cold storage.
- Cold Storage PVC Curtains in both Polar and Super Polar Grade will maintain temperatures from minus 55c to 25c.
- Thermal options with 33% greater thermal energy-saving properties for freezers and 25% in chillers are available.
Beneficial for your bottom line
We have highlighted the benefits of strip curtains for controlling temperatures for sensitive products. Still, they can also protect your workforce from the elements, reduce your energy usage, and save you money on maintaining a suitable working temperature for your employees. Using these curtains could also mean you spend less on supplying appropriate clothing and equipment for workers.
Employees have a duty of care to provide a comfortable workplace for their workers, including the environment and clothing. Using strip curtains at large warehouse open doors can help maintain a more comfortable working environment, meaning your employees suffer less on extremely hot or cold days.
Pharmaceutical units, warehousing, hospitals, supermarkets and retail units, as well as food storage and preparation areas, are just some of the places that benefit from strip curtains or PVC crash doors to maintain the climate within controlled locations on their premises. Why not consider whether installing them on your premises could help your business?
