The high cost of slips, trips, and falls—both in human suffering and economic losses—is well documented, and perhaps nowhere else do the ingredients combine to make it a bigger problem than in restaurants. Here are some solutions that apply there, and in most other businesses, too.
Start with a busy kitchen full of sloshing sinks and dishwashers, add a bubbling Frialator, pour in a dash of leaking ice machine, sprinkle with sizzling saucepans, and stir in a crop of young and often non-English-speaking workers, and, well, you get the picture.
As restaurant owners in particular, but also many other businesses, know, slip-and-fall accidents are the second-leading cause of on-the-job deaths, (second only to automobile accidents), according to the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE). And the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that 10 percent of all nonfatal workplace injuries are caused by slip-and-fall accidents.
Restaurant consultant Brandon O’Dell says that, to be profitable, owners must plan for slip prevention. Writing in his O’Dell Restaurant Consulting Blog, he says a slip prevention program must address the following five areas. His advice translates to other businesses as well:
Flooring surface. “The more dangerous the environment around the surface, the more slip-resistant the actual surface itself should be,” O’Dell says, adding that a major factor in evaluating the surface is the presence and placement of floor drains in kitchen floors.
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Proper cleaning methods. The steps in a proper floor cleaning are:
- Apply a correctly diluted degreaser or cleaner (less is needed for hallways, more for kitchen floors).
- Scrub with a deck brush (mops aren’t as effective in pores and crevices).
- Remove cleaners and contaminants with squeegees or a wet/dry vacuum.
- Rinse with hot, clean water.
Surface evaluation and documentation. Measuring and recording the coefficient of friction of your walkways not only helps gauge the success of your program but also documents your efforts to comply with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, says O’Dell.
Footwear. Requiring employees to wear slip-resistant shoes is a necessary step in slip-and-fall prevention. But it does not, by itself, constitute an effective slip-and-fall prevention program, O’Dell warns.
Hazard warnings. O’Dell recommends the use of four-sided warning signs that can be read from any direction. The signs should be taken down when no longer needed so that they do not lose their effectiveness.
O’Dell isn’t the only expert to recommend steps to avoid slip, trip, and fall hazards. More ideas come from an OSHA website called “Teen Worker Safety in Restaurants.” (Some 3.5 million restaurant workers are teens.)
Here’s their added advice:
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- Keep passageways and walkways free of clutter and crowding.
- Be sure that rugs and mats are in place.
- Wipe up spills immediately. “Spot mop” only during busy times.
- Do not overfill bussing containers. Make a couple of trips to “clear” a table. The added time it takes to do the job safely will prevent injures in the long run.
In other sources, OSHA also recommends employers follow these practices in alleviating slip and fall hazards:
- Provide nonslip matting in areas that tend to be wet. Some types of matting may not be effective in areas that tend to be greasy.
- Consider providing nonslip overshoe covers for employees to wear when they perform wet or greasy tasks.