I help companies of all sizes, ranging from several hundred to more than 100,000 employees. On the surface, you wouldn’t think they have much in common when it comes to safety. But, in reality, their approaches are often identical when it comes to solving the problem of winter slips and falls on snow and ice. The truth is, preventing winter slips and falls is low-hanging fruit in the world of employee safety. With minimal effort, effective safety professionals have the ability to save their organizations huge sums of money, in both workers compensation costs and lost production time.

Every safety manager’s nightmare may include some winter weather. And it’s no wonder – we all know that slips and falls can do serious damage to a perfect safety record. Now, I’m sure you’re well aware that reducing winter slip and fall incidents starts with increasing traction. And increasing traction on snow and ice is easy -- just about any cleated or spiked item that you can find will do the job, right? True. But the difficult task is to increase traction while allowing employees to do their jobs with minimal interference. After all, what good is traction footwear if it won’t allow you do […]

I’ve noticed a trend over the last several years. Organizations, both large and small, are chasing the zero accidents/incidents dream. And, I’m sorry to report, this is a goal they just won’t reach. Because there’s a seasonal safety hazard that’s a ticking time bomb. It’s called winter. And it’s right around the corner. Most of you will likely have had one or more winter storms with ice and snow before winter’s official start on December 21st. If you live in a cold-weather state in the U.S or a cold-weather province in Canada, it’s not “if” winter is coming, but when.

When purchasing a safety item for your employees, it is fair to consider whether the item you are purchasing is too expensive. While you would generally expect a company to spend whatever it takes to keep everyone as safe as possible, that might not always be the case. As a matter of fact, from a pure numbers standpoint, it might even make sense to let the accidents happen.

Have you ever purchased ice cleats in the past and regretted the choice? Why? Perhaps you had a slip and fall incident and made a “reactive” decision that resulted in buying the cheapest thing you could find online or at your local big box retailer? Perhaps you then heard nothing but complaints from your people: “I can’t wear these indoors.” “My ice cleat broke.” “My cleats keep falling off.”

I was speaking with a senior safety coordinator for a large Canadian company recently. This winter has been bone chillingly cold in a lot of places in North America and it seems like winter will not end anytime soon, thanks Polar Vortex! Because of the brutal duration of this winter, this particular person was not in the mood to discuss the use of an ice cleat or other winter traction aids. He admitted that he is he’s sick of hearing about ice cleats and having to “deal” with them all the time. Does this sound familiar to you?