How to ensure your workers’ safety on the catering floor
Catering employees are continuously on the move. This results in risks: every third accident at work in the catering industry is caused by slip and trip accidents. As an employer, it is your duty to ensure safety in the workplace. This is in your own best interest since sick or injured employees can seriously affect your bottom line.
And this is something you want to avoid.
The catering sector is a busy and hectic environment with lots of trip hazards. No wonder this industry reports such a high number of accidents at work. As an employer, you need to keep the risk of accidents due to slippery floors and staircases to an absolute minimum. When looking at ways to reduce the risks, the choice of the right non-slip floor, maintenance of the floors and the correct shoes are important factors to consider.
It is also important to provide employees with training to ensure that they carry out their job in a calm and controlled manner. All walkways should be free of obstacles or loose objects. Install non-slip, safe flooring that is even and easy to clean. A height difference of as little as 4mm can be a trip hazard! The greater the potential trip hazard, the greater the non-slip value of the flooring must be.
V-Value
There is another value used for dishwashing areas and wet rooms: the Displacement room (V-value)
The flooring in these rooms must have a displacement value as these areas are always contaminated with substances that increase the risk of slipping, such as oils, fats, meat leftovers and vegetable waste. The surface structure profile of such non-slip floors can absorb a certain amount of these substances.
Since a lot of this dirt will stay in the flooring profile, it maintains maximum contact between the floor and the sole of the shoes resulting in an optimum anti-slip effect.
Cleaning non-slip floors
The following tips for cleaning and maintaining catering floors and kitchen floors may come in handy:
Let dried up protein residues soak for a couple of minutes before they are removed. The temperature of the water used for cleaning should be less than 40°C.
Do not exceed the amount of cleaning agent recommended by the manufacturer to avoid leaving behind residues that would make the non-slip floors slippery again when they get wet.
Finish the installation of the non-slip floor with hollow skirting. This prevents the settling of dirt in corners and makes the edges much easier to clean.