If your home or workplace has slippery floors, or you have young children or elderly people moving around often, it’s important to place a priority of reducing the incidence of slips and falls in your home or business. Depending on the material of your flooring, a hard fall can do plenty of damage to the fragile bones of an elderly person or a child, or even a healthy adult. Falls in the elderly often cause hip fractures which require a long recovery and 10% of elderly hip fracture sufferers will develop further complications and will not survive. Slips and falls that occur in a workplace can cause loss of productivity and a need for employee recovery time, and businesses may be liable. Slips and falls should not be taken lightly.
So what can you do about your slippery floors without major construction work? Take a look at these tips to make your home or workplace slip-proof and safer.
Cleaning
Keeping floors clean and dry is essential for preventing slips and falls. Immediately clean up any spills and if possible place a marker such as a sign, chair or small table over the area while you wait for it to dry. Educate children and employees to understand they must inform others and take action immediately if a spill occurs, so somebody who walks over that area of floor won’t slip without realising.
Keep your floors and walkways free from clutter or edges that could cause trips, and secure any floor covering or mats so they don’t slip along the floor when walked on. Always close cabinets and cupboard doors so they don’t become a trip hazard, and ensure all areas and especially walkways are well lit, to help identify any debris on the path.
Dealing with the Flooring
If your flooring is simply just made of the wrong materials, and trying to prevent slips and falls is too difficult, it may be time to look at other options. Replacing the floor material is a possible solution, although it may take more time, effort and money, you will obtain a hopefully permanent solution to your problem.
However for a less drastic change to your flooring that still helps to prevent slips, adding an anti-slip coating to your existing flooring can be more cost and time effective. This could involve installing mats, pressure-sensitive abrasive strips or abrasive-filled paint-on coating and metal or synthetic decking can further improve safety and reduce risk of falling.
Proper Footwear
Running around tiled floors in socks is a recipe for disaster! While at home, Ensuring your family wears proper footwear while in the more slippery areas in the house is a quick way to help prevent slips and falls. Slippers and socks with non-slip pads on the under surface can be provided for tiled areas such as in the bathroom, kitchen or laundry, and while these aren’t 100% foolproof, they’re a fast, easy, and inexpensive way to make your floors less slippery.
You can also keep the option of allowing proper shoes to be worn inside at all time to prevent slips. This is also necessary in the workplace, where all employees should wear proper, supportive and non-slip footwear. Keep in mind that if slippery floors are wet or dirty, shoes may still not help prevent falls. Likewise poor quality footwear like rubber sandals or just cotton socks alone won’t provide much protection. Footwear that has an anti-slip sole and attaches around the ankle securely should provide some fall protection.
Education and Information
Another important way to avoid slips and falls in the home is to increase education and information available to family members and employees about how to deal with spills and move to move to avoid falls. You should take time and care while walking to ensure rushing around doesn’t lead to a slip. Pay attention to where you are going and make wide turns to avoid slipping on corners.
You can reduce the risk of falls and slips in your home or workplace by ensuring spills are dealt with quickly, all walking areas are clear and well lit, and vision is not obscured by objects that are being carried or moved around.
Keeping these tips in mind helps to keep your employees or family safe from slips and falls, for better businesses and happier, healthier homes.
This article has been contributed by professional commercial cleaning company tjsqld.com.au
