In your commercial facility you may have thousands of people coming and going on a daily basis. This is true for schools, hospitals, office parks, and more. With all that foot traffic coming in and out, especially during the winter, it increases the chances of slip and fall accidents.
The most common reason people slip and fall on commercial floors during the winter is because those floors get wet. When people are coming inside during a storm, they usually track in water, ice, sludge, snow, and other foreign particulates.
That’s why it’s so important to have walk off mats just inside every entry door in the facility. But that’s not enough. They also need to be replaced consistently.
A walk off mat is basically a nonslip mat that will be placed just inside the doorway area, whether it’s a revolving door, automatic opening door, or a traditional door. This allows a person to step on the mat as they come in, which will absorb some of the debris and water from their shoes. It will also collect and trap a lot of the road salt, sand, and other foreign matter, keeping it from getting tracked onto the commercial floor surface where it could cause damage, including scratching.
Having a walk off mats is fine, but if there’s been a lot of snow, rain, or other related weather events in a short period of time, those mats will likely become soaked. When a mat becomes overwhelmed with water, it will be less effective at helping trap moisture from shoes. When that happens, that moisture will get carried over onto the floor surface, making for a potentially hazardous condition.
Many commercial facilities rely on other companies to supply walk off mats, including replacing them on a consistent basis, whether that’s weekly, biweekly, or every couple of days. Some facilities may need to replace their walk off mats daily, especially during snowstorms or major rain events.