SAFETY MAT

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a safety mat.

More particularly, the present invention relates to a safety mat for providing a covering over a walkway.

BACKGROUND TO INVENTION

Many factories and production plants have raised walkways made of metal grid structures. These grids are useful in that they prevent liquids from gathering or pooling and thus reduce the likelihood of a person slipping.

However, one drawback to such grids is that smaller items can easily fall through the grid openings and can injure a person standing below them or the items can damage equipment located below the walkway. This becomes especially prevalent when maintenance is to be performed on equipment located above such walkways in that small screws, nuts and bolts are often fumbled and dropped through the grid openings. As well as being a danger, this also leads to additional maintenance expenses due to the loss of the equipment / supplies and need for obtaining a replacement.

Although general purpose mats can be placed on the walkway surface, these have a tendency to flap away due to wind or accidental disturbance while performing the maintenance work. Such mats are also not very useful when working near pillars as they need to be bunched up to surround the pillar. This is also disadvantageous as the wrinkling of the mat may trip a worker if he is not careful.

It is an object of the invention to suggest a safety mat, which will assist in overcoming these problems.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

According to the invention, a mat includes a web of flexible material; an opening centrally provided in the web; a cover flap being adapted to removably cover

the opening; and a closable passage leading through the web from the outside thereof into the opening.

The web may be a substantially rectangular sheet.

The flexible material may be canvas.

The opening may have a rectangular shape.

The cover flap may have releasable attachment means being adapted to releasably secure the cover flap to the web.

The attachment means may be Velcro strips.

The attachment means may be magnetic strips.

The cover flap may be divided into separate sections to allow partial removal of the cover flap to open at least a part of the opening.

The web, on its opposite sides adjacent to the passage, may have releasable attachment means for releasably joining the opposite sides of the web together to close the passage.

The mat may include a number of spaced apart eyelets provided near the periphery of the web.

The eyelets may be reinforced with metal rings.

The mat may include a number of spaced apart ties provided along the periphery of the web.

The mat may include an operative upper side and an operative lower side, with the lower side being provided at least partially with a locating means being adapted, during us, to prevent the mat from slipping.

The locating means may be a friction material such as sticky rubber or a hook part of a Velcro strip.

The locating means may be magnetic.

The mat may be adapted to be joined to other similar mats.

The mat may have a closable pocket attached to the web.

The mat may have drain holes provided in the web being adapted to allow draining of liquid that may pool on the web.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings.

In the drawings there is shown in :

Figure 1 : A perspective view of a mat according to the invention, shown with its flaps closed;

Figure 2: A perspective view of the mat of Figure 1, shown with its flaps open; and

Figure 3: A bottom plan view of the mat seen along arrow III in Figure 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In the drawings there is shown a mat in accordance with the invention generally indicated by reference numeral 10. The mat includes a web 12 of flexible material, such as canvas sheet material.

The web 12 is substantially square shaped and is centrally provided with an opening 14 in the form of a rectangular slot, which can be covered or uncovered by a cover flap 16. The cover flap 16 and web 12 have suitable complimentary Velcro strips 18 adapted to hold the cover flap 16 in a closed position while the cover flap 16 is covering the opening 14. The cover flap 16 is divided into three sections 16.1,16.2,16.3 which can be opened separately from each other to open differing lengths of the opening 14. If desired, other alternate shapes can be provided for the openings 14 and the related cover flap 16, for example such as square, round elliptical or irregular shapes.

A passage 20, which can be closed, leads through the web 12 from the outside into the opening 14. The opposite sides of the web 12 bordering the passage 20 are also provided with complimentary Velcro strips 22 to allow the opposite sides of the web 12 to be joined together to close the passage 20, which can also be provided in three distinct sections 22.1,22.2,22.3 that can be opened separately from each other to open different parts of the passage 20.

A number of spaced apart eyelets 24 are located around the periphery of the mat 10, which are adapted to allow the mat 10 to be pegged or tied in position during use. The eyelets 24 may be reinforced by metal rings.

Spaced apart ties 26 are located around the periphery of the mat 10 and are adapted to allow the mat 10 to be tied in position during use. The ties 26 may be made of canvas material and can have any suitable required length.

The operative underside of the mat 10, as shown in Figure 3, is provided with peripheral locating strips 28 to assist in restricting the mat 10 from slipping when placed on a surface where no pegs or ties can be secured to the eyelets 24 or there is no place to tie the ties 26. The locating strips 28 can be a sticky rubber or the hook part of a Velcro strip. As an alternative, the locating strips 28 can also be made of magnetic material so that they can be magnetically attached to a metal surface.

The operative upper side of the mat 10 further has a pocket 30 for holding nuts or bolts, etc. The pocket 30 can be closed by additional Velcro strips or by a zip to prevent any of its contents from falling out of the pocket 30.

The mat 10 has a number of centrally located drain holes 32 for allowing draining of any liquid that may accumulate or pool on the web 12. The drain holes 32 are sufficiently small that tools or implements cannot pass through them.

In use, the mat 10 is adapted to be used when performing maintenance and using tools or other implements. The mat 10 is placed on a surface below the location at which the work is to be done to catch any tool or other implement, such as a screws and nails, which may accidentally be dropped. The mat 10 is especially useful when such maintenance is performed above a raised walkway

where the walkway is made from a metal grid structure through which the smaller implements can fall.

The mat 10 is spread out on the walkway over the grid structure and hooked or tied into position using the eyelets 24 or ties 26, or it is magnetically held in place. When maintenance work is to be performed in close vicinity to a vertical structural support pillar, the passage 20 can be opened and the cover flap 16 released. This allows the mat 10 to be placed around the pillar so as to encircle it, whereafter the passage 20 is closed again. The sections 16.1,16.2,16.3 and 22.1, 22.2,22.3 are opened as needed depending on the size of the pillar.

When larger areas are to be covered, a number of mats 10 can be placed adjacent to each other and joined along one side by the eyelets 24, ties 26 or by the locating strips 28.