Prevent Slip and Falls by Partnering With Your Cleaning Services

When it comes to slip and falls the best defense for your facility is to choose a pro-active approach rather than being reactive. When it comes to the safety of staff and visitors in your facility, Benjamin Franklin’s saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" takes its stand. The recent era has seen some very conscious efforts on the part of Facility Managers as far as reducing the incidences of slips and falls. According to estimates shown by the National Safety Council, 8 million people yearly fall prey to the accidental slips and thus end up in emergency rooms. These accidents have been known to cause the businesses more than $60 billion each year. These numbers are nothing to balk at!

It’s a good idea to partner with your cleaning staff to address slip and fall conditions on a daily basis. Whether a Facility Manager hires cleaning companies for their cleaning services or has their own in-house janitorial staff, there is always a risk of slip and fall situations due to wet and slippery floors. However, it is important to partner with that staff to make them the ears and eyes of the building to monitor unsafe slip and fall conditions.

Here are some things that the janitorial staff can watch for:

1. Wet floors.

2. Uneven carpets.

3. Messy, cluttered work areas

4. Tools, materials, cords, and other items lying on the floor in places where people walk

Here are some precautionary steps that your janitorial staff can take:

1. Place wet floor signs around area to be wet mopped.

2. Use floor fans in inclement weather conditions that can bring moisture inside your facility.

3. Damp mop instead of wet mop areas with pedestrian traffic.

4. Report any hazards such as messy, cluttered work areas.

The precautionary control strategy includes avoiding such a situation from appearing in the first place by taking care of the flooring designs. If such a situation does occur, the strategy that should be followed is reducing the chances of loss by understanding the causes and thus eliminating the causes by taking care of them. The best way to save the employees from such slips and falls is to implement proper pedestrian safety policies and make sure they are followed. The safest way to identify the potential hazards of slips is by working with your janitorial staff. This way slip and fall hazards can be taken care of well in advance to reduce the chances of exaggerated losses.

Stathakis has been partnering with companies to provide clean, safe, and healthy work environments for over 35 years. We delivering Floor Programs to minimize slip and fall accidents.