Floor Finish: Marble – High Shine - Internal
Slip Hazard: Entrance Foyer and Reception
- White marble highly polished, large foyer. Pristinely maintained to provide consistent shine
- During dry days almost no slipping accidents reported. During wet days mats were used in front of doors to try and stop the rain being transported by the 800 office workers
- “Slip Hazard” signs highlighted the known problem in the attempt to place the risk onto the user
- On some wet days they did not have any accidents, on others 3 or 4 people would fall. Once or twice each year on dry days an accident would take place
- The use of mats created a tripping hazard
- Maintenance staff took great care to manually monitor the conditions and the “accident” book was meticulously completed to provide as much detail as possible for HSE investigative officers
Findings
It was found that the same numbers of mats were used on wet days, regardless of the level of rainfall. This practice was not sufficient in its’ own right to resolve the slipping issues. A contributory factor was the number of people using the building at certain times of the day, along with the frequency of changing the matting. When the matting lost the ability to absorb contamination it was transported by foot prints on to the marble floor. Marble polishing took place at regular intervals which created a slipping hazard for a number of days after the treatment. The organisation uses a detailed program on how to contend with spill management, rain, polishing treatments and carpet/matting monitoring. Although this process is successful the management time is extensive and relies on a personnel completing the regular tasks.
