All posts by Jordan Bell

From time to time, we like to revisit some of our most popular blog entries. If safety professionals are looking for specific information, we’re always happy to provide it. And one of our most popular topics focused on the lack of regulations when it comes to ice cleats. In my original article, “Why Are There No Regulations Around Ice Cleats?” I wrote that the main reason for a lack of industry standards or regulations around ice cleats is the number of variables in recreating an outdoor slippery surface. But I don’t think that my post was popular because people wanted to hear why these regula[…]

It’s a question we’ve heard more than a few times. How do we answer it? Look at it this way: If you typed the phrase “ice cleats” into Google back in 2010, the search engine would give back around 418,000 results. Trust us on this number: it’s our job to run that specific search. Try the same search today, and you’ll get back more than 10 million results. What does this number tell us?

As a safety professional, I have a crucial question for you: What is your biggest safety sin or workplace hazard? Before I reveal mine, let me provide some context. Winter Walking is the largest manufacturer of ice cleats in North America. We take immense pride in helping hundreds of companies and thousands of employees reduce the risk of slip and fall injuries while on the job. But imagine the embarrassment and devastation if I were to personally experience a slip and fall injury on ice or snow. That would undoubtedly be my biggest work-related sin.

I have young kids at home. Every night, they eat dinner. Sometimes they eat their dinner early and sometimes it’s late. But every night they eat. So what would happen if I waited until they were starving to feed them. And at that point I said, “Okay, just spot me a few hours. I have to go to the market, buy some ingredients, come home, look up a recipe and then cook you dinner. Sound good, kids?” Just the thought of the ensuing tantrums is enough to ensure that this scenario never unfolds in my home.

If you’re bored one day, type “ice cleats” into your preferred search engine. How many results do you get? Hundreds of thousands. So why does this matter? Well, it means ice cleats are popular. Would they be as prevalent today if they didn’t work? Interesting question. Let’s look into this: If you analyze the 800,000 results you’ll find from your Google search, you will quickly uncover two major obstacles that make investing in ice cleats a difficult decision for any safety professional:

If a fireman asks you to check your smoke detectors, would you consider responding with: “We haven’t had any fires this year, so I’ll test them the next time we do.” Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? What if I told you that I hear tales of similar scenarios when I call a new contact and ask if they’ve tested their ice cleats yet? What many people don’t realize is that you don’t actually need ice and snow on the ground in order to conduct an ice cleat test. All ice cleats are built to increase traction on ice and snow – that part is easy. If they didn’t work, they wouldn’t exist.