Floor Safety
Flooring accidents at the work place can often happen due to slips, falls and slides. In most cases the results will amount to a light bruise, which will disappear after a few days, however under some circumstances the results might prove far more serious and might mean loss of work and productivity. Here are our 6 tips for preventing work related flooring accidents.
Accident Prevention: How to avoid those tricky situations from the get go.
- If you are aiming to make your work space flooring safer, one of the most straightforward recommendations is to clean the floor when the premises is empty. By doing so you will greatly reduce the likelihood of accidental slips during busy times.
-
Always match the right floor with the right audience. When choosing the floor solution consider which is the safest material for the type of foot traffic. For example, flooring materials such as tile PVC flooring with anti-slip technology are extremely grippe and suitable for some location, while even the most split-prone floor could be made safer using self-adhesive safety tapes and grippe mats.
Floor Cleaning Issues: Best practices for cleaning floors.
- Some types of floor coatings might be more susceptible to becoming slippery leading to an unsafe environment, especially when poor maintenance is applied. In addition, use of low grade cleaning chemicals and those with oily residue properties might make the floor slippery. For most types of floors and coatings there is no need for cleaning chemicals, regular mopping with a damp mop will work fantastically well and will reduce the likelihood of floor residue slips.
Always place a hazard sign when the floor is being cleaned, when it is wet and when you suspect it might be unsafe for any reason. Attention should be given to the entrance and exit of the property as well as to areas that might experience wet surfaces such as the toilet area. Even an area around a water cooler may become wet at times. It pays to keep vigilant when it comes to flooring safety.
Other Flooring Concerns
- Hygienic safety isn’t regarded as a ‘flooring accident’ as such, however the results from poor hygienic practices will have serious results similar to an accident in terms of loss of productivity from employee absences. The key to prevent such concerns is to hoover or brush the floor on a daily basis and use fresh cleaning supplies be it dedicated cleaners or a damp mop.
Wood is extremely popular in many work places and some types of wood flooring such as solid wood floors will allow the owners to re-coat the floor, thereby increasing its longevity. This common process will make the floor extra slippery for a short while and should be done when no one is at the premises and a hazard warning should be clearly displayed.
Flooring safety tips by Wood and Beyond a UK based wood flooring supplier of engineered oak from managed forests.
Do you have any thoughts? Please share them below