If there ever was an incentive for employers to hire non slip floor treatment professionals to minimize slip fall risk, Australia’s Work Health and Safety Act 2012 would be the prime example. The legislation reflects the long-standing common law approach to employer's liability for workplace injuries, imposing a high standard of care on employers as regards health and safety risks in the workplace (the rationale being that employers must take out liability insurance and will thus be financially capable of satisfying a judgment). If you want to avoid liability under the new WHS Act, start with anti slip floor treatment.
The Standard of "Reasonable Care"
In order to fulfill the standard of care under the new Act, employers must take reasonable precautions to minimize or, preferably, eliminate reasonably foreseeable risks to their employees in the workplace. The foreseeability of slip fall accidents is beyond doubt. So long as work processes involve liquids, slip fall risk in that particular workplace will be high, and even if liquids are not commonly employed in the work process no one would go so far as to call a slip fall accident unforeseeable. It's an almost classic example of a workplace accident - in fact, nearly a quarter of all workplace accidents involve slips and falls. Thus, reasonable precautions must be taken by employers in any workplace to minimize slip fall risk if the standard under the WHS Act is to be met.
One way employers can meet this standard of reasonable care is hiring a competent non slip floor coating professional to increase the slip resistance of their flooring. Friction Systems Australia takes a three-tiered approach to improving slip resistance.
First, a comprehensive assessment is undertaken to determine which treatment program best suits the work premises. This may involve combining more than one type of non slip floor treatment. For example, if there are stairs in the workplace, then safety stair nosing will have to be employed in addition to the standard non slip tile coating procedures. This will also involve assessing the slip rating of your floor, usually by measuring the floor's Static Coefficient of Friction (SCOF). A higher SCOF rating means lower slip fall risk and the anti slip program will aim to increase your floor's SCOF rating to at least 0.55.
Once the appropriate anti slip floor treatment program has been devised, it will be carefully implemented. Top-grade leading edge materials will be employed during the process.
The relationship doesn't end there. Some types of slip resistance treatment - non slip floor coating being a prime example - requires periodic aftercare. Friction Systems Australia provides aftercare solutions to ensure your workplace premises consistently meet the recommended slip resistance standards.
Employers have a legal duty to maintain safe working premises for their employees. Don't expose yourself to legal liability by failing to mitigate slip fall risks. Compared to massive litigation costs, non slip floor treatment is an affordable investment.