1-519-619-0495
November 25, 2022 10:42 am Leave your thoughts
Preventing winter slips and falls at your commercial business is crucial. Slip-and-fall lawsuits are rising with increased ice-related pedestrian accidents. An established commercial winter service contract will ensure your customers’ safety and work in your legal favour if a slip-and-fall-related injury occurs. We include our best tips here to help you prevent slips and falls at your business.
Whether you’re doing your own winter maintenance or have a snow removal contract, numerous things can be done to prevent slips and falls.
As a business owner, it is your responsibility to keep clients, tenants, and pedestrians safe. Keep your property clear of ice and snow hazards. Do you need a dependable and professional commercial snow removal company in London?
2. Fill any potholes: As vehicles drive through potholes, the water displaces and freezes around the perimeter, causing a risk. When snow hides the pothole, it quickly becomes a likely trip hazard.
3. Avoid creating puddles: Puddles go back and forth from wet holes to frozen ponds throughout the winter.
4. Pile snow close to the catch basin: It solves the problem of water and ice issues.
5. Consider the grading of the lot: Pile snow at the low end of a parking lot to save time and ensure a safer parking lot.
6. Make sure stairways have solid handrails: When the moment suddenly goes bad in a split second, a handrail can save a life.
7. Use environmentally safe salt on all walkways and stairs to help avoid tripping possibilities: Light snowfall on stairs and walkways is extremely slippery. Keep salt on hand even if you’re using a commercial snow removal company.
A dramatic rise in lawsuits relating to slips and falls in the past decade, according to a CBC news article and insurance company stats, indicates the need for properties to have effective winter maintenance in place to avoid legal ramifications due to slips and falls.
The cost of a winter maintenance service contract will pay for itself as it proves you are proactive in making your property as safe as possible in case of a legal claim against your company in the event of a slip and fall.
Snow and ice removal and tactics to prevent ice from forming where people walk at your place of business are crucial during the six winter months, from the end of October until the beginning of April.
Awareness of your property’s condition is an essential part of your winter maintenance.
Ensure someone on staff is responsible for walking the perimeter each morning and at lunchtime, even if you use or are looking for a commercial snow removal company.
- List the tasks you want the employee to take on. Print the list onto a small stack of papers that she or he can easily pick up and take with them daily. Find an Ontario-made pet and environment-safe salt.
- Create a daily log of the weather conditions for the day, the tasks completed (by you or a professional snow removal and salting company), the time of the completed tasks, and by whom. This is critical to ensuring you have represented your company’s responsibilities in a legally provable way.
- If you’ve added these tasks to your commercial winter snow removal contract, go over them twice to ensure everyone knows the details of the job. London Snowplow & Landscape uses pet-friendly and environmentally safe salt. Let us know that you are undertaking a daily log.
- Have an Accident Report form already available for the unfortunate slip and fall incident. (You can download Ontario Accident Report forms here) Ensure it is filled out and signed by the claimant and any witnesses. Document what happened, the time and date, and the weather conditions.
Call Dennis at (519) 619 0495 or contact London Snowplow & Landscape here.
Tags: Legal Considerations, Slips and FallsCategorised in: Winter Maintenance Services
This post was written by Jade Brown