News Article

Slip and trip accidents significantly increase during the Autumn and Winter!

During the Autumn and Winter season there is less daylight, leaves falling onto paths and becoming wet and slippery and ice and snow building up on paths can lead to more slips and trips.

Regardless of the size of your business premises you can reduce this risk by ensuring that regularly used walkways on your business premises are promptly tackled in the darker and wet months.

Lighting

The easiest way to find out if there is enough lighting around your workplace, for you and your workers to be able to see and avoid hazards on the ground, is to ask your staff! You can also check out the main internal and external routes where your staff walk throughout their working day. It is important to check at different times of the day as the level of lighting changes.

Wet and decaying leaves

Fallen leaves can hide hazards on the ground or become slippery.

You should check for and remove leaves at regular intervals; you might even consider removing the offending bushes or trees altogether.

Rain water

You should discourage your staff and visitors from taking shortcuts over grass or dirt which are likely to become slippery when wet. Maybe consider converting any existing shortcuts into proper paths.

On new premises, before your paths are laid,think about how pedestrians are likely to move around your site. Having the path in the right place from the beginning may save you money in the long term.

Many slip accidents happen at the entrance to buildings as people have walked through rainwater. Well placed canopies over building entrances can help to lessen this risk as can having large absorbent mats or even changing the entrance flooring to one which is non-slip can help.

Ice, frost and snow

To reduce the risk of slips on ice, frost or snow, you really should assess the risk and put in a system to manage it.

Identify the outdoor areas used by pedestrians most likely to be affected by ice, think about your building entrances, car parks, pedestrian walkways, shortcuts, sloped areas and areas constantly in the shade or wet.

Monitoring the temperature is a must as prevention is key.

Keep up to date by visiting a weather service site such as the Met Office or the Highways England so you can take appropriate action whenever freezing or adverse temperatures are forecast.

Having processes in place can help prevent an icy surface forming and/or keep pedestrians away from any slippery surfaces.
Use grit or similar, on areas prone to be slippery in frosty or icy conditions or you can simply divert pedestrians to a safer route or cover your walkways.

If you display warning cones you should remove them once the hazard has passed or eventually they will be ignored!

Gritting

The most common method used to de-ice floors is gritting. It is relatively cheap and quick to apply and easy to spread.

Salt can stop ice forming and cause existing ice or snow to melt. It is most effective when it is ground down, however, this will take far longer on pedestrian areas than on roads as it doesn't work instantly; time is needed for it to dissolve into the moisture on the floor.

Gritting should be carried out when frost, ice or snow is forecast or when walkways are likely to be damp or wet and the floor temperatures are at, or below freezing. The best times for gritting are early in evening before the frost settles and/or early in the morning before employees arrive.

If you grit when it is raining heavily the salt will be washed away, causing a problem if the rain then turns to snow. Compacted snow, which turns to ice, is difficult to treat effectively with grit. Be aware that 'dawn frost' can occur on dry surfaces, when early morning dew forms and freezes on impact with the cold surface. It can be difficult to predict when or where this condition will occur.

 

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