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New floor required a different cleaning regime, but did anyone tell the cleaners

Health and safety managers in a hospital decided that they needed to replace an old floor in a kitchen area following a number of slipping accidents.

They decided on a new bespoke epoxy based floor with specialist anti slip surface.

The floor was duly laid and some time afterwards the flooring supplier was asked to visit the site because they were having problems keeping the floor clean.

The supplier was surprised to find the floor was stained in various areas and generally didn't look very clean. He discussed the problem with the cleaners who said that the new floor was extremely difficult to clean, was becoming slippery in parts and in fact was damaging their mops.

The supplier discovered that the cleaning instructions appropriate to the new floor were not being followed, instead they were filed on a shelf in the health and safety manager's office.

He asked for a stiff brush and a bucket of warm water with the appropriate amount of cleaning detergent and then set to work on the floor. He merely swilled the cleaning solution across the floor, leaned on his brush for a few moments and then brushed away the dirty liquid. The supplier explained that if the floor was not cleaned properly it would lose its slip resistant properties.

The cleaners were amazed to see, almost immediately, that the stains were lifted from the surface and the original floor colour had returned.

All this could have been avoided if someone had bothered to tell the cleaners about the appropriate cleaning regime for the new floor!

Link URLs in this page

  1. Slips and tripshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/index.htm
  2. The lawhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/law.htm
  3. Frequently asked questions https://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/faq.htm
  4. Overview - Are you a?https://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/are-you.htm
  5. Employerhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/employers.htm
  6. Employeehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/workers.htm
  7. Architect or designerhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/architects.htm
  8. Overview - Causes and preventionhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/preventing.htm
  9. Overview - Contaminationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/cleancampaign.htm
  10. Cleaninghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/cleaning.htm
  11. Flooringhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/flooring.htm
  12. Overview - Footwearhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/footprocure.htm
  13. Supplying slip-resistant footwearhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/manufactfoot.htm
  14. Environmenthttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/environment.htm
  15. People (human factors)https://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/human-factors.htm
  16. Overview - Resourceshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/information.htm
  17. Publicationshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/publications.htm
  18. Overview - Toolshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/tools.htm
  19. STEP eLearning packagehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/step/index.htm
  20. Overview - Slips Assessment Tool (SAT)https://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/sat/index.htm
  21. Using SAThttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/sat/default.htm
  22. Research reportshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/research.htm
  23. Case studieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/casestudies.htm
  24. Campaignshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/campaigns.htm
  25. Useful linkshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/links.htm
  26. Audio and videohttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/audiovideo.htm
  27. Subscribehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/ebulletin/index.htm
  28. Slips and trips - Hazard spotting checklisthttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/ck4.pdf
  29. Preventing slips and trips at work INDG 225 (rev1) https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg225.pdf
  30. Injury caused by a slip in a kitchenhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/audiovideo.htm
  31. Virtual College: Slips, Trips and Falls Online Traininghttps://www.virtual-college.co.uk/resources/slips-and-trips
  32. CIRIAhttp://www.ciria.org.uk/
  33. Usdaw: Risk mapping for slips and tripshttp://www.usdaw.org.uk/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=2db107ca-4d5d-49a2-99dc-16e187a59e71
  34. Work at heighthttps://www.hse.gov.uk/work-at-height/index.htm
  35. Shattered Liveshttps://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20200912193450/https://www.hse.gov.uk/slips/shattered.htm
  36. Cleaninghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/cleaning/index.htm
  37. Stop Slips in Kitchenshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/SLIPS/kitchens/index.htm
  38. RIDDOR - Report an incidenthttps://www.hse.gov.uk/riddor/index.htm

Glossary of abbreviations/acronyms on this page

RIDDOR
Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995

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2021-06-01