Slip Protection with Style: The Core of BCD Management Surface Specialist, Inc.
Joel Davis
Special Contributor
Photos courtesy of BCD Management
BCD Management Surface Specialist Inc. started out Solving Mickey Mouse problems — the important kind.
Vince Vallone, who has owned the business since 1972, is the inventor of a portable, self-contained soft blast machine that creates a no-slip surface on granite and marble and other surfaces without causing excessive and annoying dust.
“Our method of soft blasting is either done with templates with custom designs or solid etching,” Vallone said. “This creates a slip guard that is 400 percent safer than all standards.”
Slips and falls on wet surfaces are not trivial concerns for operators of resorts or hotels, cruise ships, or even water attractions. It can cost up to thousands of dollars and major inconveniences to solve the problem of treacherous wet surfaces through traditional methods, but BCD offers an economical and less intrusive solution.
“Because our soft-blast process on flooring surfaces and bathtubs cleans and renews the finish, it saves the company from having to re-clean or replace them and leaves scratched, stained and weathered, old stone and tile surfaces looking refreshed and new,” Vallone said.
Based in St. Cloud, Florida, BCD primarily works with large hotel companies to provide 100 percent safety for their bathrooms, but it also specializes in restoring slip guards in both the cruise line and theme park industries as well.
The Westin St. Francis hotel in San Francisco hired BCD Management Surface Specialist Inc. to treat cast iron bathtubs, Vallone said. “We soft-blasted the bottoms of 1,100 bathtubs in about three weeks with no downtime, and made the tubs like brand new on the bottom.”
Treating the bathtubs was far more cost economical than other alternatives, Vallone said. “We saved them at least $3,500 a room in replacing the bathtub where you’ve got to take tiles out, walls out, and toilet out. By doing this quickly and easily, we’ve totally stopped their slips and falls 100 percent. This is what we do.”
Using the soft-blast technology saved the Westin St. Francis more than $6 million in tub replacement and downtime costs, Vallone said. His crews completed the project in just three weeks.
Vallone developed the soft-blast technology while working at Walt Disney World as well as on Disney cruise ships.
“I was originally working at Disney as a glass etcher way back when,” Vallone said. “I noticed some rust on the side of a contemporary hotel. I was just visiting there, and I introduced myself to the engineer. I said I could blast that rust off the wall, and he says, ‘Did you ever do a bathtub?’”
A test run of the soft-blast machine — etching a Mickey Mouse into the bottom of a Disney hotel bathtub — proved successful, and Vallone found a niche for his business to fill.
In addition to its potential for cleaning, the soft-blast process paid dividends in risk management. “At Disney, they found out my process was creating slip prevention to keep people from slipping and falling,” Vallone said.
“After doing the Disney Hotel in Orlando, Florida, we branched out to many major hotels across the country,” he said. “We’ve saved them tons of money in tile and natural stone and bathtub replacement cost.”
The hotel work led to a relationship with a major bathtub manufacturer. “Back in the 1990s, the Kohler company came down and wanted to know what it was we were doing that Disney was so excited over,” Vallone said. “They were impressed by my process and bought the process for their in-plant use.”
BCD Management Surface Specialist Inc. has worked with the biggest names in the travel industry including Hilton, Starwood, Marriott, Sea World, Disney, and Carnival Cruise lines.
“I treated the Mickey pool for many years, keeping the children safe,” he said. “This grew to people at different cruise lines researching and finding me. There was a ship called The Splendor by Carnival. They had 36 percent slips and falls per cruise on the eating deck.
“The ship was in San Francisco in dry dock, and they flew me and my equipment out. We came up with a template of a wave, and they loved it. Since then there have been zero slips and falls.”
BCD has its creative aspects, too. At one location, Vallone and company built a tree sculpture with stone and metal. “We got granite and stacked it up and into the shape of a palm tree,” he said. “Then we ground it down. I am a copper sculptor as a hobby, and I put copper leaves on it. It’s kind of crafty and unusual. We do that as fun.”
Still, the main niche for BCD is helping businesses eliminate safety risks. “Our primary business is going to an existing hotel or office building, medical building, a hospital or retirement home, and we’re asked to soft-blast the entranceway where it gets wet,” Vallone said.
The soft-blasting process is fast and effective, he said. “In wet conditions it really grips you. It has a very smooth emery-board-like finish that is very easily cleaned. We do up to 800-square feet with one machine. The dust is limited to practically nothing.
“We recently did some thresholds in merchandising shops that were open for business,” he said. “Mess, noise and dust clouds were unacceptable. Sand blasting was out of the question, and could never create a smooth, even finish like our method.”
Soft-blasting is far more durable than the alternatives, Vallone said. “This process never goes away. There are other methods of slip prevention that we’ve heard of and seen and tried, but they just don’t work. It doesn’t last very long. The maintenance upkeep on the polishing and the different materials they use just doesn’t work.”
One of the most convenient aspects to using soft-blast technology is that surfaces can be treated without worrying about having to limit access to the rooms or areas. “Instead of closing down to tear up and install non-slip tile, they can continue operating with no interruptions or disturbances to their guests,” Vallone said. “We have done many different scenarios like entryways to shopping centers, hospitals, hotel baths and flooring, water park walkways, and docks.”
BCD depends on word-of-mouth and educating customers to promote itself. “A lot of people just don’t know about us,” Vallone said. “We have to tell them who we are and what we do.”
In the end, BCD is very accomplished at addressing a low-visibility need that has the potential for major impact on a company’s bottom line.
“We would love to hear from people who have a problem with slipping and falling,” Vallone said. “We’re the problem solver.”
For more information, visit the BCD website at http://www.slipprevention.com, call toll-free (800) 585-2325 or email vincebcd@aol.com .