Trusty-Step To The Rescue

Like most country clubs, our customer in Connecticut was preparing for their annual Memorial Day Club Tournament. The announcements and pairings had been made, the cocktail parties and dinner arrangements set, the show was ready to begin.

However, behind the scenes, big trouble was brewing. A few days before the first tee off, a member had slipped in the men’s locker room and seriously hurt himself. Among others, the club’s insurance company was notified. The subsequent inspection revealed the cause of the accident – extremely slippery tile floors. The club was told, in no uncertain terms, if the problem was not remedied within 48 hours, the club’s insurance policy would be canceled and the club would have to close.

The tournament, the canapés, the roast beefs, the champagne, what would become of all these goodies? Quick thinking by the club manager, helped to save the day. Trusty-Step to the rescue.

The club manager called Trusty-Step, A Trusty-Step application crew was at the country club the next day treating the slippery tile floors. The insurance company approved the results and the Tournament started on time, the next day.

Got Slippery Floors?

How Large Is The Slip/Fall Problem?

The slip/fall problem is much larger than most people would imagine. In the U.S., it is the 2^nd leading cause of accidental death, after automobile accidents. Hospitals are kept busy ‘round the clock, taking care of slip/fall accident cases.

We, at Trusty-Step, know about the problem first hand, because we have helped to solve it for the past 22 years. If you look in the Yellow Pages under Attorneys, you will find full page ad, after full page ad, advertising the services of slip/fall attorneys. It’s difficult to walk anywhere, without seeing the ubiquitous yellow cones warning, “Careful, Slippery When Wet!

One would think that the problem would only be recognized and addressed in affluent, Western countries, but not so. Trusty-Step International sells slip-resistant products in many countries, that often amazes us. Poor countries, such as Ghana, Kenya, Sri Lanka, etc.buy Trusty-Step anti-slip products. Countries, that you would think had much larger issues to think about, such as  Egypt just after their revolution, Lebanon, with their on going political problems, Pakistan, etc., all buy Trusty-Step. We’re not complaining, we’re just amazed!

Federal Regulations – Slippery Floors

The Fed is involved in every part of our lives. Is it any surprise that there are Federal laws and regulations regarding slippery floors? Well there are and if you own or manage a business or property you’d better be familiar with them or it could cost you dearly.

The Occupational, Safety and Health Administration, OSHA and the Americans’ with Disabilities Act, ADA have rules and regulations on what constitutes a slippery floor. These rules and regulations are designed to protect employees and the public and are a good thing.  The penalties for not complying can be quite severe.

OSHA requires that the Static Coefficient Of Friction, SCOF or a floor should measure 0.5 or higher to be considered safe. ADA recommends a SCOF of 0.6 on a horizontal surface. These scores are measured by a slip meter. If you don’t have a slip meter, how do you know if you’re in compliance? You don’t!

Many companies wait until someone slips and falls, inures themselves and sues. Then they swing into action, call a slip resistant service company like Trusty-Step International and have their floor made slip-resistant.

Smart companies send a sample of one of their tiles to Trusty-

Step for a free treatment and test. In this way, they know before a costly accident occurs, exactly what the SCOF of their floors is and whether or not they need to take action.

Are Slip Meters Important?

If you own or manage a business or property with a fair amount of pedestrian traffic, then owning a slip meter is a good idea. If an employee, customer or visitor slips and falls on your floor and suffers an injury, you could be liable for a substantial law suit. If this occurs, the injured party’s attorney will try to establish your negligence.

He or she will probably have your floors tested with a slip meter to determine the Static Coefficient Of Friction (SCOF). The Americans’ With Disabilities Act states that a floor with a SCOF of 0.6 or higher is safe and under 0.6 is unsafe. If the SCOF of your floor is found to be under 0.6, you could very well be found negligent.

How To Protect Yourself – If you follow the following steps, you can save yourself a lot of grief and money.

1.Clean your floors often. Do not allow foreign matter to collect on the floor. Keep a written record of the cleaning..

2. Test the floor with a slip meter on a regular basis and record the results.

The above will demonstrate that you believe that slip-resistant floors are important and that you have taken the necessary steps to insure that your floors are slip-resistant and safe.

If your floors do not have a SCOF of 0.6 or higher, Trusty-Step Anti-Slip floor Treatment will make them compliant.

If you don’t have a slip meter, Trusty-Step International has several models. One model, used by a leading insurance company’s field agents, is very accurate and its results are admissible in a court of law.

4 Ways Slippery Floors Can Hurt Your Business

At first glance, it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. Your floors are slippery. You place a few, “Slippery When Wet” warning cones  on your floors – Problem solved! Not so fast. Warning cones do not solve the problem. As a matter of fact, they add to your problem. When you place warning cones on your floors, you acknowledge that there is a potential for a slip-fall accident and you chose not to correct the problem. Attorneys call this negligence.

1. If a customer slips and falls and injures themselves, a costly lawsuit may be in your future. This can seriously affect your insurance premiums

2. Slippery floors can cause your employees to slow down, due to a fear of slipping and falling. A dangerous workplace, can lower employee morale. Imagine a busy restaurant, where the wait staff has to tread extra carefully, because of slippery conditions. A customer’s dinner can get cold!

3. Even worse than a cold dinner, is if a employee slips and falls and injures themselves. Aside from his or her pain and suffering, lost workdays, by key employees, can seriously impact your business.

4. Women will immediately identify with this potential problem. A rainy day, a trip to the shopping mall, a wet marble entrance and high heel shoes. Many women will avoid shopping malls under these conditions. Who can blame them? This situation is an accident waiting to happen.

Bottomline, call a dependable, reliable slip prevention company to solve your potential slip-fall problem. Trusty-Step International will solve the problem.

Slippery Floors Create Unusual Requests

One would think, making slippery floors slip-resistant and safe, would be a straight forward, mundane business. A business or homeowner is afraid someone will slip and fall on their slippery floors. They call Trusty-Step and their floors are made slip-resistant and safe in a couple of hours.

Sometimes, however, requests can be full of surprises. For example, one day we received a call from a doctor, who complained that his patients were slipping when exiting the therapy pool. He needed someone to make the tile deck slip-resistant. Nothing unusual? Not until we discovered that the doctor was a veterinarian and the patients were dogs. Not a problem. A Trusty-Step treatment and man’s best friends were safe and sound.

In April 2011, the Big Apple Circus visited Boston. We discovered that anyone can slip on a slippery floor – even clowns. Before the opening performance, the circus called Trusty-Step for help in preventing their clowns from slipping and falling on their entrance walkway. We solved the problem and the show went on. All in a day’s work.

What did the following people have in common?

Pope Paul II, Senator Packwood and George Burns. The answer, they all had
serious slip fall accidents. The Pope slipped in his bathtub, George Burns
slipped in his shower and Senator Packwood slipped and fell on a slippery
restaurant floor. Senator Packwood’s immediate comment, “Call my lawyer”.
Figures.

Slip and fall accidents are a major problem. After automobile accidents,
they are the 2nd leading cause of accidnetal injury and death. Trusty-Step
International has been trying to make the world a safer place to walk on for
over 22 years. Our most popular product, No. 1001 Trussty-Step Anti-Slip
Floor and Bathtub Treatment microscopically etches a tread into tile,
marable granite, etc., thereby making the floor slip-resistant and safe,
even when the floor is soaking wet. One treatment is guaranteed to make a
slippery floor, slip resistant and safe for 4 years.