All posts by Bill Coyne

Driving to work one day, I was thinking about a customer of mine who has been buying our shoe ice cleats and winter traction aids for over 15 years. (Several years ago, I was honored to be invited to their corporate safety meeting to talk about their slip and fall prevention program.) When I think about this company, I appreciate how they continue to promote our ice traction slip-ons before and during winter. They always remind employees about the current, approved shoe ice cleats and safety footwear available. And corporate EHS always educates their employees about the benefits of wearing the[…]

Do you you know the top 3 safety tips for your profession? Let’s face it, if you’re a safety professional, it all comes down improving your safety record. And there’s one big unknown when it comes to where that record will stand at the end of the year: Winter weather. Here are three tried-and-true – and quite simple – ways to keep your employees safer in bad weather – and eliminate slip and fall incidents on snow and ice.

As a safety professional, you most likely hear your share of employee complaints. The one we hear about frequently is this: "My ice cleats fall off all the time." It’s true that ice cleats and other traction aids can be a little complicated. Sometimes you wear one size in a specific brand and a completely different size in another. It’s a fairly common occurrence in regular shoes. Well, ice cleats and snow traction for shoes are no different. With the many styles of traction devices available, sometimes getting the optimal fit seems impossible.

As a safety manager, this is the time of year your attention turns to winter prep. Storms are right around the corner and reducing winter slips and falls is sure to be on your mind. So, have you started your search for the perfect ice cleat or traction aid? And if so, have you made your decision on whether to use replaceable or permanent spikes. If you’re still making that choice, here’s some info that may help. Replacing spikes in traction footwear is indeed a cost-saving option. It allows you to re-use existing footwear for just a few dollars a pair.

So let me ask you a rather blunt question: Why are your employees using the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) they are today? Chances are, your company has a lot of PPE footwear standards that are mandatory, not voluntary, as a condition of employment. What about safety glasses, hard hats, steel-toe boots, high-visibility clothing, fire-retardant apparel?

Try Googling the term “ice cleats.” Overwhelming, right? And not at all helpful. Most of the results feature the same style of cleat, but with different color spikes. So what can a busy safety professional do to reduce winter slips and falls, in the ongoing attempt to improve their workplace safety record? The worst thing he or she can do is pick a traction product like boot cleats for ice at random and hope for the best. All too often, this kind of search ends in disappointment, frustration and a depleted budget.