Brooms & Brushes

At Start Safety, we stock a wide variety of brooms and brushes suitable for use in any environment, including workshops, factories, farmyards, building sites and schools, and many more. With a choice of broom heads and handles as well as different brush styles for specialist applications, we are confident that you will find what you need at a price that suits your budget.

We only work with responsible manufacturers of industrial brooms and brushes to ensure that our products are produced fairly, sustainably and are suitable for the task at hand. By working closely with brands such as Hill Brush, who have been manufacturing brushes since 1922, we are confident that any broom you buy from our range will be one of the best you will ever own.

We stock handles, broom heads and brushes on the shelf ready to ship with next-day shipping. We also carry a quality array of accessories allowing you to build your broom out with a quality stay, head clamp and handle of your choosing. For larger orders or specific enquiries, we can even have brooms sent out pre-assembled (please ask for details).

What Is The Difference Between a Broom and a Brush?

Many people use the terms broom and brush interchangeably. However, there is a difference between a broom and a brush.

• A broom is a long-handled tool for floors
• A brush has a short handle and is used single-handedly.

So if you are looking to sweep a large floor area, you will need a broom; if you need to brush off a ledge, clean out a bucket, or sweep something into a dustpan, you will almost certainly need a brush.

What Is Best, a Stiff Bristle Broom Or a Soft Bristle Broom?

The answer is that it depends on the job you're doing. At a high level, you can quickly determine if you need a stiff or a soft broom head by considering the following:

• Are you gathering up loose dust or light particles on a dry surface? Soft bristles are what you need.
• Are you loosening, agitating, and sweeping stubborn debris such as caked-on mud? Stiff bristles will work better for you.

If now you know you need a soft bristle broom, you should take a look at our soft broom head category - the only further variations in soft brooms is the bristle material, but this tends to be more of a budget consideration than a performance consideration.

If you now know you need a stiff broom head, then there are a few more points to consider, including how long the bristles should be and what material they are made from.

Choosing The Right Broom Bristle Material

Below we have listed some of the most common broom bristle materials available and their benefits.

• Plastic Bristles - Often wrongly referred to as “nylon brooms”, they are actually made from a mix of plastics that have a great “flick”, allowing better agitation of stubborn debris.
• Bahia - This natural, premium material is very durable and will not rot if left in wet environments.
• Basine - This is a stiff natural product, cheaper than Bahia, stiffer than coconut, and more environmentally friendly than plastic; it is featured in many stiff bristle brooms and brushes.
• Coco Fill - This all-natural fill is made from coconut fibres; it is cost-effective and soft and will biodegrade at the end of its working life.

Do I Need A Stay?

A stay is recommended if your broom is larger than 12”. This will reinforce your broom handle and help give you better control when sweeping.

Broom & Brush Jargon Buster

• Fill - The material that the bristles are made of.
• Trim - The length of the bristles of the broom.
• Stay - A reinforcement bracket that stops the handle from snapping or twisting.
• Platform Brush - A flat-topped broom style where the top of the broom sits level to the ground.
• Yard Broom - A broom specifically designed for use on rough surfaces, such as those found in farm yards. These are almost always round-backed and feature long, stiff bristles.
• Sweeping Broom - Another name for a soft bristle broom intended for use indoors in workshops and factories.
• Deck Scrub - A specialist broom with a short, stiff bristle specifically intended for scrubbing stubborn algae and other debris from patios and decking. These are effectively a “stand up” scrubbing brush.