Development of Sustainable Soft Flooring Material to Reduce Fall Injuries

Fall injuries are experienced worldwide ranging from fatalities to hospitalization especially in Elderly population. The available soft flooring options are restricted to specific buildings and location. The study developed soft flooring material incorporating crumb rubber from waste tyres to provide cushion effect in flooring to induce cushion effect. The concrete specimens were developed in form of tiles/slab with varying thickness of 10, 20 and 30 mm. In total 36 specimens were tested with 3 × 2 blank reference specimen without crumb rubber. The specimens were tested in accordance to the force required to cause fracture in human leg bone (192 N) while the testing energy was 198 N. The height of drop was kept 45 cm. The softness was determined with respect to contact time of the impact to the surface while deflection was obtained using dial gauges of 0.01 mm accuracy. The test results of specimen showed two specimens absorbing more than 50% of impact energy. Thereby reducing the chances of fatal/major injuries by 50%. The developed material also solves the big problem of waste rubber tyre disposal in a sustainable manner. The developed material can be successfully applied various location and buildings. Hence, the developed material is green and sustainable both for humans and environment.