OUTSIDE PROPERTY EXPOSURE

 

Slips, Trips and Falls 1/3

Incidents involving slips and trips in retail establishments are one of the highest causes of claims. There can be a variety of causes for slipping and tripping outside or inside premises. To reduce your risk of falls at your facility, review below some of the common areas that we find where these falls may occur and prevention methods to reduce and/or eliminate the exposure.

 

Parking Lots/Sidewalks

  • Depending on your situation, some businesses own part of a parking lot and sidewalk. If you do not own and lease part of the premises, you will want to review the lease for any responsibilities you may have to clean and maintain it. You may be responsible for communicating any deficiency and if so, you will want to have it well documented.

  • If you own a parking lot and/or sidewalk consider the following:

    • Inspect and repair the premises for any pot holes, depressions, or uneven pavement that may cause a tripping hazard.

    • Areas that receive snow and Ice

      • Have a program to clean premises of snow and Ice.

      • If handled by a third party vendor, have a written agreement in place and obtain a certificate of insurance. Understand the parameters of their responsibility and you may have to remove snow and apply ice melt in addition.

      • Apply ice melt in areas where responsible.

        • Document when and where ice melt is applied if cameras are not available to capture.

      • Pay attention to areas such as rain gutters where water dripping from them may freeze at night. Inspect the areas if they flow out onto sidewalks before opening and apply ice melt if necessary.

    • Provide adequate lighting at the entrance to the building.

 

Entrances (Inside Building)

  • Use floor mats, especially for rain and snow conditions to help remove water from foot wear.

  • Use longer floor mats at entrances. A good rule is for 15 feet of matting to remove the majority of debris from foot traffic.  This will allow most people to make contact with each foot 3 times with the floor mat.

 

Elevation Changes

  • Parking stops

    • Paint a contrasting color such as with a non-slip construction yellow to make more visible.

  • Sidewalks

    • If sidewalks are higher than the parking area, paint the top and front edge with a contrasting color such as with a non-slip construction yellow to make the change in elevation more prominent and easier to see.

    • If the pavement parking area pavement is of different construction such as asphalt and sidewalk concrete there may be ample color difference where painting would not be necessary.

  • Uneven walking areas:

    • The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a tripping hazard as any crack or joint over ¼”.

    • Pavement may move or shift due to freezing and thawing, settling, fractures, or tree roots.

    • The two common methods to repair is by:

      • Grinding – If the edge is not over 2” concrete or asphalt can be ground to a bevel making it less of a tripping hazard.

      • Replacement – If grinding is not an option, a section will need to be replaced.

 

Edin Nadarevic