Walkway Auditing As A Tool Slip And Fall Prevention In Avoid costly and dangerous accidents. By: Mike Fraley I Mike Fraley is president of Consolidated Safety Group Inc. and is currently serv-ing on the NFSI/ANSI B-101 Standards Committee. Mike is also a NFSI-certi-fied Walkway Safety Auditor and a NFSI-certi-fied Slip and Fall Prevention Specialist. Consolidated Safety Group offers nationwide on-site walkway auditing, docu-mented floor safety pro-grams and a complete line of slip-resistant cleaners and degreasers. For more information concerning this article or the services Consolidated Safety Group offers, please visit www.walkwaysafety.com, www.floortesting.com or contact Mike at [email protected] or 1-888-818-9038. In todayʼs litigious society it seems everyone is looking to blame someone for something, and unfortunately in the cleaning business, this often includes the dreaded slip and fall accident. In years past when a slip and fall accident would occur, the liability would fall solely on the company where the incident occurred. But, this is no longer the case since there has been a growing trend that, along with the compa-ny or corporate entity that owns or leases the property where the accident occurred, others have been included. Who Is To Blame? These other individuals include the company hired to perform the cleaning and maintenance of the facility in question. Often, the victimʼs attorneys will include every-one down to the manufacturer of the floor finish. Maintenance companies and their employees are starting to realize that this is an issue thatʼs not going away anytime soon. In fact, slip and fall accidents are a common occurrence in many different types of facilities; statistics show that the risk of a slip and fall inci-dent occurring continues to rise each year. According to the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), nearly 60 percent of all grocery store gen-eral liability insurance claims are slip and fall com-plaints. The nationʼs $494 billion grocery store industry spends $450 million annually just to defend slip and fall claims. The NFSI goes on to report that slip and fall for more info Visit www.cmmonline.com and type in search keyword: Fall . For more information on related products, visit www.cmmonline.com , select SUPPLIER SEARCH from the main navigation bar, and enter keyword: Safety . Signage must be recognizable and provide bi-lingual information. Seen up front, a slip meter can provide a quick, detailed reading. 14 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • August 2009
CMM – Archives Aug 2009: 14
