By Donald Landin

If you’ve ever slipped and fallen on a wet surface, you’re not alone. Each year, poorly maintained floors are responsible for more than 2 million customer and employee fall injuries, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The result: billions of dollars in medical, insurance and litigation costs for businesses.

By industry estimates, concrete-slab moisture-related floor-covering failures cost retailers, building owners and contractors more than $1 billion every year. But it’s not just new spaces that present a challenge in this regard. With infill the name of the game in retail development, retailers that open stores in existing spaces also need to be on full alert to the potential for flooring problems.

As polished concrete flooring continues to gain traction among retailers, treatment, topping and technology options are increasing as well. Chain Store Age spoke with Stephen Klugherz, president of San Diego-based Diamatic USA and Diamatic Management Services, subsidiaries of the Blastrac Global Group of Cos., on how new products and technologies are helping to solidify polished concrete’s place as a preferred flooring solution.