Proactive Prevention

Someone is walking across a floor, and a moment later that person is feet up in the air and flat on his or her back. Along with the stinging embarrassment and bruised ego, often comes injury. Injuries can vary from the very serious to the benign in these episodes, and they can happen at any time. According to a Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index study, falls from the same level were the second highest workplace injuries suffered in 2005.

Of course, no hotelier wants to see guests or employees get hurt from avoidable situations, but compounded with the possibility of sending an ambulance stretcher through the lobby and unwanted attention could come higher worker’s compensation premiums or potential lawsuits. The National Safety Council estimates that worker’s compensation and medical costs associated with employee slip-and-fall accidents are approximately $70 billion per year. Additionally, living in today’s world of online reviews, a fall can have another lasting effect on a hotel through a guest’s perception of the incident.

“Once guests have left, if they have had an incident and tripped and fell, they could post it online and it could reflect negatively upon a property and impact their future reservations as a result of that,” says Mark Leahy, marketing manager of hospitality at Cintas Corp.

Rather than turning a blind eye and hoping that no such incidents happen on site, it only makes sense for hoteliers to devote some capital, time, and effort to avoiding slip and falls. “Being proactive is good business,” says Nigel Altman, president of No Skidding Products, which manufactures anti-skid products.

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Zone Consideration and Protection
For hoteliers looking to re-evaluate their properties’ floor safety, industry experts recommend looking at a few different areas. Staci Farmer, marketing manager of facility services at Cintas, says there are two main zones that warrant preventive measures: entranceways and high-risk areas.

Entranceways are self explanatory, but should also include ingress and egress places for employees. High-risk zones are common areas where there is water usage, such as lobby bathrooms, according to Farmer. Of course, there are other high-risk zones that hoteliers may not think about but should consider. “These would be in front of ice machines, vending areas, any common areas with water fountains or buffet areas,” explains Farmer.

Altman also suggests pool areas, guestroom tubs, showers, and bathroom floors all be protected against falls.

For entranceway protection, Farmer suggests a dual mat system where there is a scraper mat outside the entrance way and then a carpet mat inside. The scraper mat will take away outside elements such as snow, mud, soils, and the interior carpet mat will secondarily pick up other shoe residue and remnants and then dry off shoes. Farmer recommends 15 feet of carpet mat in the interior to “capture any remaining debris or water so that it absorbs into the carpeting before it is tracked onto the hard surfaces.”
“When considering a mat system in both of these zones, look at mats that are certified by the National Floor Safety Institute as high traction mats, because some mats can actually increase the risk of slipperiness when they get wet,” Farmer says.

For the high-risk zones, there is some variability in the type of proactive measures to be used in protecting against a slip and fall. For example, when thinking about pools or guest bathrooms, no-slip tapes should be applied on the tile surfaces in the bathroom or along the pool deck, diving boards, and steps leading into the pool. In looking at floors in front of ice machines, high rubber mats would be the appropriate safety measure.

Overall, Altman suggests a comprehensive systemic approach to floor safety. He recommends to first make the floor surface slip resistant, either through a slip resistant solution or mats; clean surfaces regularly with a suitable cleaner or degreaser; and lastly, periodically test the floor’s slipperiness and document it—Altman suggests doing this every quarter—to see if another application of anti-slip solution needs to be applied.

Cleaning and Maintenance
One important aspect of safety that may not be given much consideration is cleaning and maintenance. When an oil-based spill occurs, using a degreaser is necessary to make the floor surface truly clean. “It is imperative that the hotel use an effective cleaner,” explains Altman. He also says in the case of surfaces which have lost some of their anti-slippery effectiveness, a deep cleaning on the surface may help to “restore the slip resistant quality” of the floor. “If they don’t, the soil, grease, or oil is going to cake up over a slip-resistant surface.”  

Training
When properly trained, Altman says being able to apply anti-slip solutions and subsequent cleaners can be done in-house with the maintenance staff, making it more efficient and less expensive for the hotel to keep up. “With today’s economic climate, this can save hotels significantly,” he says. Additionally, hoteliers want to teach maintenance employees the importance of using the right cleaners or degreasers on the anti-slip surfaces, depending on the slip resistant protection being used whether it be anti-slip coating, chemical, or tape.

Nancy Petersen, senior marketing manager of first aid and safety at Cintas, says that vendors can aid hoteliers in providing training for slip and fall prevention for staff. Cintas offers an online training program that “not only looks for opportunities for [slip and fall] risks, but how to respond to accidents,” says Petersen. The subsequent result of proper first-aid training, adds Leahy, can change a guest’s perception of that hotel. “It can turn a negative impression into a positive one pretty quickly.”

Having employees trained in first-aid techniques, including how to do everything from identifying 911 situations quickly to wrapping ankles with bandages to using automated external defibrillators (AED) are vital. Having this training, combined with the actual first-aid kits in-house to deal with these direct incidents, are equally important.

Lastly, if an incident does happen, know when to document it. “When someone must go seek medical attention, that becomes a recordable incident,” says Petersen. “The value of having that first-aid cabinet is if you can treat onsite and prevent that trip to the emergency room—you potentially make that a non-recordable injury.”
However, Petersen recommends that everyone consult with OSHA to get the finite guidelines for recordable incidents.

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