What to Watch Out For – Winter Ready

Being proactive instead of reactive is one strategy that sets successful businesses apart from the rest. For example, although it’s only fall, winter is soon around the corner, and with it brings added difficulty in managing your business. Along with snow, mud, and ice, winter means cold weather, less daylight, and increased vulnerability to germs that make us sick.

 

How to Find and Fix your Company’s Vulnerabilities

Weather forecasts are notoriously difficult to get right. In the Midwest, you can see snow as early as October, and even though you may be holding onto the summer trends, it’s important to start thinking of the inevitable weather coming ahead.

 

 

Some questions you should ask yourself include:

• What do I need to do to protect my building?
• What precautions do I need to take to ensure safety within my business?

 

Securing The Building

External Inspection

To combat the upcoming weather, do an external facility inspection with maintenance personnel to look for any weaknesses that could lead to structural damage. This could include, securing loose siding or trim, looking for cracks or leaks in the roof, and replacing doors or windows.

 

Internal Inspection

Winter weather means there is a lot to think about when it comes to the safety of your employees, as well as any customer or visitor that comes to your facility. To preserve a safe and secure work environment, it is important to have a variety of safeguards.

 

The first step is to educate your team on a plan concerning what to do in different situations. Once you have a team and plan in place, it is important to compile of list of items, products, and services you need to create safe working conditions.

 

Get Ready, Get Set, Get Safe

As an industrial launderer, we know the importance of providing safe working conditions. Winter weather can bring many worries through your front door, affecting everyone that visits your facility including customers, vendors, and employees.

 

 

Seize the Debris

It is important that your teams know the expectations of regularly clearing and cleaning your floors and entryways.

 

Catching it at the Door – Floor Care

Placing floor mats at your entryways is fundamental in providing a safe business for all visitors.

 

Having a mat program is an excellent set of tools for preparing your business.

 

• Mats collect unwanted dirt and grime. Mats contain the dirt so that it does not spread throughout your building. This helps your business maintain a great impression with customers, vendors, and employees.

 

• Mats provide an added safety measure against slips, trips, and falls. Mats remove debris and moisture, and with a properly placed three-mat system (including scraper, water hog, and conventional floor mats), you improve safety and reduce the risk of liability from injuries.

 

• Mats collect unwanted contaminants. Substances from the sole’s of people’s shoes, such as automotive fluids, pesticides, dust, and other allergens can end up in your business. Mats hold onto these substances that would otherwise create health concerns for employees and customers.

 

A mat rental service does more than help trap dirt and moisture. By using a service, you avoid store-bought mats that are made of low quality fibers, which inadvertently spread the exact grime you wish to prevent. A laundering service helps the mats function properly because the dirt is fully removed, rather than left stuck between the carpet fibers.

 

Maintaining the Clean and Safe Atmosphere

Mops

With the added moisture that winter brings, it’s important to keep your workplace clean and safe. Dust mops remove the dirt and dust, and wet mops allow you to clean your floors of unwelcome messes that may cause a hazardous working environment.

 

Jackets

Winter also brings cold weather, which means the need for jackets and coats. This oftentimes means that your uniforms and company logo are being covered up instead of being proudly on display. Using a company jacket rental service ensures your employees are protected against the elements, but are also still displaying your company brand.

 

Enhanced or High Visibility Options

In addition to cold weather, winter also means there is less daylight each day. Industries that work outside in low visibility situations are at high risk for workplace-related injuries. For example, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires highway or road construction workers to wear high visibility clothing to make them easily visible to drivers. Other industries such as emergency service and heavy equipment/construction also benefit from hi-visibility uniforms so they are easily seen.

 

First Aid

All employers want to keep the workplace healthy and productive, and the best way to ensure a healthier work environment is to stay ahead of illness and to be prepared when illness occurs. During the winter months, we are more vulnerable to viruses that make us sick. This is because viruses live longer indoors in the winter because the air is less humid than outside. We also spend a lot of time indoors and have closer contact with others where we are breathing in germs.

 

When employees feel under the weather, their productivity and engagement drops, which affects your bottom line. A fully managed first aid program is just what businesses need to help combat the flu and other illnesses.

 

Savings from Preparation

Preparing your business and employees for the winter conditions is a task that can be completed in advance of the impending winter weather. Disasters can strike overnight, and being prepared helps alleviate some of the chaos, stress, and overall business expenses.

 

In the industrial laundering industry, we pride ourselves in partnering with clients to prevent and prepare for the troubles of winter. With a service that oversees your inventory and supplies based off of your past routines or upcoming conditions, we can help get you what you need.

 

For us, we believe there is nothing more convenient than partnering with someone who can handle it all.

 

To receive or to learn more about the services that CITY can help you with this winter, please contact us.