Reducing Slips at Your Front Door - Sani Marc

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The first snowfall starts a mad rush for a few things – winter tires, shovels and ice melters! We rush to buy them bec
Reducing Slips at Your Front Door

November 2011

Educational Bulletin

Slip, Trip and Fall (STF) Incidents

by Barry Colpitts | Professional Development, Wood Wyant

| Investment Protection

The first snowfall starts a mad rush for a few things – winter tires, shovels and ice melters! We rush to buy them because we know winter conditions can cause extra slipperiness to the places we drive and walk on. In today’s bulletin, we will talk about investment protection for your business in the winter months. This protection can help your employees, your clients and your maintenance costs.

According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, injuries resulting from floors, walkways and ground surfaces were responsible for 15% of all days away from work. The average cost of a Slip, Trip and Fall (STF) incident is $3500 in direct Workplace and Safety Insurance Board costs (WSIB) and as much as $21,000 in indirect costs*. The average liability award for injury to a customer runs from $60,000 to $100,000 per claim**.

| Focus on Prevention, Not Compensation? |

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Over 540,000 Slip-Fall injuries, requiring hospital care, occur in North America each year.

One in three serious bone breaks for seniors results in death (within one year of the accident).

Slip-Falls account for over 20,000 fatalities per year in North America i.e. 55 persons per day.

It is the second leading cause of accidental death and disability after automobile accidents. Slip-Falls are the number one cause of accidents in Hotels, Restaurants and Public Buildings; 70% occur on flat and level surfaces.

"A company with a 5% profit margin would need to create $420K in new sales to cover the cost of one slip, trip and fall injury".

Slip-Fall accidents account for 30% of all reported injuries.

91% of people select a store for its appearance and 42% judge it primarily by the cleanliness of the floors****

The Experts in Sanitation Solutions woodwyant.com | green.sanimarc.com | [email protected]

Subsidiary of Sani Marc Group

Educational Bulletin STF Incidents

The basic precautions are simple and cost effective: clean, dry walking surfaces and proper footwear help reduce slip and fall cases for your clients and employees. |

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Take care of your outdoor areas. Many slips and falls occur outdoors, on sidewalks and in parking lots. Make sure snow and ice are removed and surfaces are free of tripping hazards. Our ABSOLUTE BRAND of ice melters provide a choice to help improve sidewalk maintenance. Inspect the area daily to look for common culprits such as wet floors.

Attend to any problems immediately by putting up warning signs and taking steps to quickly eliminate the hazard. Safety signs come in a myriad of options to suit your needs. Maintain all floors and walkways on a consistent basis using recommended cleaning products and methods.

Train your employees in slip and fall safety, and establish guidelines on how employees should report problems and respond to customer injuries or hazardous situations. Document all of your efforts by keeping records of your daily safety inspections, maintenance work and how you dealt with any slip and fall accidents. Photos are an excellent manner to show your daily activities in safety enhancements.

| Weather Considerations – Winter Months In winter months, the cleaning may need to be adjusted to handle the extra particles entering the building. Lighter amounts of dust and sand from the summer months is replaced by heavier dirt such as sand, salt and calcium residue. These heavier soils can spread through your building if not stopped and maintained at the entranceway. Without proper removal of winter particulates from the entrance areas, your matting may not be as effective as intended and cause your floors to be unsafe..

At this time, we assume you have invested in high-performance entrance matting that can handle the traffic for your building. In wintertime, the enhancements to your "matting cleaning program" can focus on: | |

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Increased frequency of cleaning Adjust selection of pre-spray chemical to the type of soil being removed Increased use of water to help flush out heavier particulate Use of high waterlift wet/dry vac or extraction equipment Rotation of mats between multiple doors or limiting the # of entrance points

The Experts in Sanitation Solutions woodwyant.com | green.sanimarc.com | [email protected]

| When is Vert-2-Go Storm Rinse Your "Enhanced" Choice?

If your cleaning challenge is ice melting compound residue, VERT-2-GO STORM RINSE is a great solution to solving your problem. The use of VERT-2-GO STORM RINSE as your matting pre-spray and entrance area cleaner will help improve the removal of heavier salt particulate in the mats and on hard surfaces. VERT-2-GO STORM RINSE and our "flushing" techniques will help to remove the particulates and help you maintain a clean and safer building in the entrance areas.

Winter cleaning of mats does not need to be complicated. The use of traditional carpet pre-sprays can cause shoes to remain damp and make the floor feel slippery when stepping from a matted to a hard surface. VERT-2GO STORM RINSE lessens the slippery residue that can transfer from a wet mat to your shoes or boots making it safer to walk on hard surfaces in your entrances. The ability to clean mats in place allows your regular cleaning personnel to tackle the issue before a slip/fall accident can occur. With VERT-2-GO STORM RINSE, your mats can be cleaned as required instead of being a scheduled project work. Mats are cleaned when they are dirty and overloaded – not when it was scheduled – which may be too late. This removes the risk before it becomes a hazard.

To better understand how to improve your winter safety, contact your local Wood Wyant expert at 800-361-7691 and let us show you when VERT-2-GO STORM RINSE is the right choice for your business and those customers who visit.

*http://www.mattech.ca/marketing/Mat_Tech-COS_magazine_article-Slippery_Slope.pdf (Canadian Occupational Safety Magazine, vol.49, Issue 5, Oct/Nov 2011) **http://www.nationwide.com/slip-and-fall-accidents.jsp ***http://hspsupplyinc.com/stats.htm

**** http://mattech.ca/entrance_mats.php

| About Barry Colpitts

Having worked in many facets of our Wood Wyant organization over the past 18 years, from sales to marketing, chemicals to equipment, Barry provides both a practical and theoretical approach to the cleaning industry and the changes that are rapidly occurring.

Barry has attended many shows, seminars and training sessions around the world. As an ESP & CIMS-GB Certified Professional, he provides an international knowledge of trends & technologies that can help you maintain healthy buildings.

Today, Barry helps lead Sani Marc’s Business Development Group as they strive to maintain their lead in the ever shifting sanitation market. With an eye to the future, Wood Wyant is proud to continuously deliver world-class solutions to our canadian customers.

Subsidiary of Sani Marc Group

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| What Can we do to Help Reduce Slips, Trips and Falls (STFs) at Our Business?