How to Protect Your Business from Bare Floor Dangers in Winter

• December 03, 2020
• Mats
• specialtymat

What dangers and risks await your business thanks to leaving a bare floor unprotected this winter season?

Bare Floor Dangers

Here are just some of the risks and how you can protect your business:

Bare Floor Danger #1: Slip and Fall

The winter season brings higher risks of slip and fall accidents. That is, of course, to be expected. Snowy and frosty conditions make quite the perfect recipe for such accidents. Curbsides and outdoor parking spaces are especially dangerous this time of the year. However, your business’s floors are just as dangerous as the outdoors. Wintery conditions mean wet shoes and tracked-in mud and slush that can make your bare floors slippery.

Bare Floor Danger #2: Extensive Floor Damage

The winter season may bring in all sorts of holiday feelings and postcard sights. It all may seem good but that’s just on paper. Elsewhere, winter conditions almost always translate to bad news for flooring. For one, there are perpetually wet shoes. The heavier the foot traffic, the worse it becomes for your floors. There are only a small number of floor types that can withstand the onslaught of moisture on the floors. They ruin the floors’ adhesives and grout if you have vinyl or tile. And damage gets even worse with natural flooring materials. Without proper care and attention, moisture can do anything from staining to permanent, deep damage.

There is also the issue with de-icing salts. As helpful as they are in keeping our roads and sidewalks safe in wintertime, they are not floor friendly. The high pH of the salts has slow but devastating adverse effects on floors, acting like a stripper. Left too long and in high volumes due to heavy foot traffic, the de-icing salts can cause minuscule cracks, splinters, and a stripping away of the floor’s finish.

Bare Floor Danger #3: Visible Filth

Aside from the invisible effects of winter conditions tracked indoors, there is the problem of the visible kind. Mud, slush, and other debris are not only unsightly. They can also leave permanent marks on your flooring. Sometimes, the marks are so difficult to remove that cleaning them can have irreversible damage to the floors.

What You Can Do to Keep Your Floors Safe in the Winter

Fortunately, you do not have to sit in cold, clueless wonderment on how to keep your floors vulnerable to damage, and your employees and clients at risk of slip and fall accidents. You can always clean more, become more vigilant, and stand at the ready with mops and a vacuum every time someone comes in the door. That is, of course, virtually impossible to do simultaneously with running a business. Even in the presence of a dedicated janitorial team, heavy foot traffic, logistics, and cost will make it impossible.

The Best Option: Professional Mat Coverage from Specialty Mat

The right floor mats are all the protection your bare floors need to survive the perils of the season. They stop dirt, moisture, debris, and any remnant of de-icing salts in their tracks, way before they even get into contact with your flooring. A good entrance floor mat with sufficient, three-footstep coverage (approximately 15-feet) can filter up to 80% of tracked-in dirt and debris.

The right floor mat maintenance service ensures that your floor mats are inconsistent tiptop condition, ensuring your floors’ full protection throughout the duration of winter.

Take No Risks with Your Winter Floor Care with Specialty Mat

Enrich your floor care and protection with the help of Specialty Mat! Contact us at (800) 941-MATS to learn more about our services and how we can help in your facility’s upkeep this season and beyond!