It's sad, but the war on slips and falls will still be there when the pandemic is finally over. Slips and falls have still not shown up on CNN, even though many have been tragically hurt or killed due to slips and falls since my last article (September 2020, pg. 48).
The cost to your business is huge and the days of lost work and compensation claims will still be mounting unless you and your people are proactive, and I mean continuously proactive. You would think with over 35 years in this business developing, marketing and selling antislip coatings and solutions to the industrial environment, U.S. Navy and others in the Department of Defense, when I call a safety director and offer a free walk-around survey or a presentation about prevention on same-level surfaces, they would be enthusiastic. Instead, they are too busy or already took care of it: "No problems here."
The people who let me in, however, are amazed at how many places a deadly accident waiting to happen lurks in their facility, and the employees know they are there. They either walk differently or drive very slowly to avoid the costly accidents year after year, and I find them all. Your business will locate them sooner or later - when the accident hits you between the eyes.
So this time, let's deal with the biggest culprit: same-level slips and falls. To get back to the basics, many employee accidents occur when contaminants are present. After all, the surface wasn't made slippery on purpose when the facility was first built, but add water, grease, oil or dirt to the floor and now you have a slip and fall nightmare. Many times, you can't stop the contamination, although you can clean it up as quickly and as best you can or change the flooring surface more permanently at a low cost to keep the coefficient of friction (COF) at a safe level even when contaminants are present. The other element is durability when altering a floor surface, since you can't keep getting in the way of the facility by constantly redoing the same area if the coating wears away prematurely, like the old standby of throwing some sand in paint.
In the early '70s, the U.S. Navy was trying to figure out a consistently safe COF where it could move planes into position to take off or land on the steel flight deck of an aircraft carrier or even pull a 30,000-pound jet onto and off the flight deck with a very small tow motor on a giant listing ship coated with saltwater, rainwater, skydrol fluids, oils and other contaminants. I was on the USS America many years ago to witness the magic and durability of these nonskid, antislip coatings in action. How will that tow motor get the high-COF traction to pull that plane? How can it be durable enough to withstand 15,000 landings and 12 months of service in time of war, yet still keep a high COF on the flight deck? Thus, the first nonskid that had phenomenal durability and kept the same-level surface above a 0.85 COF (even with oils and fluids on the surface) was created. After all, we only need a 0.5 COF per OSHA and a 0.6 COF per the ADA (0.8 for inclines per ADA). The magic was in the peaks and valleys of the coatings and aluminium oxide to ensure strength and durability on the flight deck of the most powerful weapon in our U.S. arsenal.
My next article will show how this same technique is used in antislip coatings of today, how those coatings are used in multiple environments in industry based on the nature of the traffic, and how durability and sustainability are leading factors. The measurement of COF and its importance will also be explained more, but don't hesitate to call or email me if you would like me to do a survey of your facility and point out the hot spots and solutions. It won't cost you anything and we might save an employee from a devastating injury or death. I also have a presentation on slips and falls around same-level surfaces that I've given to countless people in our safety disciplines over the years, and with Zoom, I can now be in your office in minutes. It's up to you to take advantage. Again, be proactive.
For more information, visit www.newguardcoatings.com or
call (832) 243-6680.
