If you are reading this blog, you are most likely a safety professional of some sort. That being the case, I ask you: What is your biggest safety sin or workplace hazard? To put it in perspective, I’ll tell you mine. But let me first give you some background. Winter Walking is North America’s largest manufacturer of traction aid ice cleats. We help hundreds of companies and thousands of employees reduce the chance of suffering a slip and fall injury while on the job. We take tremendous pride in our product line, our company and our task. So can you imagine how embarrassed I would be if I perso[…]

Last winter, I wrote a blog post entitled, “Why Are There No Regulations Around Ice Cleats?” It turned out to be one of my most popular blog entries, so I figured it was time to revisit the topic. In the original post, 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 outdoorslippery surface. But I don’t think that my post was popular because people wanted to hear why these regulations don’t exist. Instead, what safety professionals really want to know is what can they do in light of the lack of regulation[…]

Until recently, winter had been pretty calm and warmer than normal for most of the U.S. But then, you read the news headlines and see that winter’s first big snowstorm is coming to your area. It’s late January, after all, and winter weather really isn’t uncommon this time of year, is it? So, after reading about this storm approaching, you decide to check your ice cleat inventory. Only to realize you’re low on stock – or worse, completely out! Now, the panic starts to set in, “Oh man, I wish I had done something about this a few weeks ago.”

We live in such an instant gratification world today. If you’re willing to pay a high premium for shipping overnight, you can get just about anything you want, when you want it. The hottest toys for holiday shopping? No problem. The latest cell phones? No biggie. Last-minute clothing purchases? Easily done. Now is the time of year when “just ship it overnight” quickly becomes the most often heard statement I hear. Of course you can have ice cleats or traction aids shipped overnight, right? Well, the answer is both yes and no.

Recently, I had a conversation with a safety director from a large company that has operations all over the globe. He was telling me about how they used to have a lot of slip and falls due to ice and snow. They investigated ways to reduce winter slip and fall accidents and concluded it was time to invest in ice cleats. He went on to describe how they did all their research, testing, due diligence, etc. and ended up buying what they believed was the best ice cleat at the time. (Disclaimer: This isn’t an ice cleat my company manufactures.)

On particularly cold winter days when I was a kid, my mother would often give me a choice regarding outerwear, “Either wear your winter coat or don’t go outside,” she would say, effectively offering me a Hobson’s Choice - no choice at all. Since I was just a seven-year-old kid, my mom wasn’t interested in empowering me or helping me to build my decision-making skills. She simply wanted me to be warm and not get sick. There are many companies that offer this same “no choice” when it comes to safety items – either comply with OSHA workplace safety or go home.