Organizations that are focused on their future clearly realize the need to ensure the productivity of their greatest asset, their employees. Ice Cleats, Crampons, Creepers, Gritted Boots and other types of Slip-Resistant Footwear can help…

Looking for ice cleats, creepers and other types of slip-resistant footwear to reduce your company’s slip and falls can be overwhelming and complex. Our job here at Winter Walking is to simplify this process for you. Finding ice cleats or ice creepers or other types of slip-resistant footwear that will keep your employees on their feet should be a simple process, but all too often, industrial companies make some of the most common mistakes in tackling these issues.

Every year as the winter wreaks havoc on the country, public and private businesses scramble to keep up with their workload through less than perfect conditions. The risk of slips in falls in winter conditions, with ice and snow prevailing, run high. Field crews, service professionals, delivery personnel and maintenance teams are required to be outdoors in these slippery conditions not only regardless of the weather, but in many cases in spite of it.

Slips and falls in ice and snow skyrocket, causing shortages of manpower and substantially increased costs. Keeping winter workers on their feet and productive becomes a priority in the throes of a January ice storm when there is barely enough time to ship a product in, let alone research and test it. In dire situations such as these, any port in the storm will do and the first product available often becomes the product of choice. Knee-jerk reactions to ease the suffering of this situation are commonplace.

Finding ice cleats or ice creepers or other types of slip-resistant footwear that will keep your employees on their feet does not need to be rocket science.

Here at Winter Walking we categorize all types of ice walking gear, ice cleats, ice creepers, crampons, gritted boots and other slip-resistant shoes in two ways, the first is traction versus versatility.

Traction vs. Versatility

The more traction that your ice cleat is providing, typically the less versatile it is. If you think about a traditional mountain climbing crampon which has elongated jagged teeth exposed to walking surface you are now picturing and example of an ice cleat at one end of the spectrum. An ice walking device like this will provide the most aggressive traction available, traction that will allow you to navigate the icy conditions of the Himalayas! But if you are wearing ice cleats such as this, you will be hard pressed to walk anywhere else, on any other surface other than a frozen mountain. An ice walking device like this certainly cannot be worn inside, or for driving. Nor can they be worn on outdoor clean surfaces such as dry pavement. As a matter of fact an ice walking device like this probably could not be used on an iced over sidewalk without imminent danger. In other words, with an ice cleat or ice creeper at one end of the spectrum there is very limited practical usage.

At the other end of the traction-versatility spectrum is maximum versatility. Maximum versatility is the ability to walk anywhere. Think about the various types of normal footwear ranging from sneakers to dress shoes. In non-winter normal walking circumstances these types of shoes offer maximum versatility. In other words, there is really no place than you cannot walk in them (in normal circumstances). You can walk indoors on all floor types, outdoors on all surfaces and even drive vehicles. However, once we introduce contaminants such as ice and snow or even oil or grease, the versatility of normal footwear is not so good.

If you are dealing with a slippery condition in the workplace and you are trying to reduce the risk of slips and falls among your employees, you must consider this traction-versatility scale.

Where most companies fail in their search for ice cleats or slip-resistant footwear is that they only consider their need for traction in the slippery condition. They forget to acknowledge that their employees must also navigate a variety of other surfaces throughout the course of the day. So when ice cleats, crampons, creepers or the like are distributed to the workforce, they believe that they have now equipped their workforce to avoid these slip and fall situations and are mystified when they find out the program is not working. They find out that the devices that were issued are now causing trip hazards, or they discover that the ice cleats are damaging vehicles or indoor walking surfaces. Or possibly they discover that their employees have determined these possibilities in advance and have properly removed the creepers or slip-resistant footwear items before encountering these circumstances only to forget to put the ice cleats and slip-resistant items back on before continuing back into the slippery environment.

And so now, not only the original problem not been solved, but more problems have been introduced and additionally money has been spent and ultimately wasted.

The second way that we look at creepers, crampons, ice cleats and other slip-resistant footwear products is ease of on and off versus secure attachment to the foot.

Ease of On/Off vs. Secure Fit

There are many types of ice cleats that are extremely easy to put on and take off. Many can be donned in mere seconds. However, typically these types of ice cleats or crampons tend to not be attached to the foot very well and in certain circumstances of extreme snow or ice, or with a lot of twisting and turning they can fall off rather easily. Think about typical bedroom slippers as an example. You can put them on very quickly and easily, but they are apt to fall off just a fast. However, unlike losing your slipper in your kitchen, having your ice cleats or slip-resistant device fall off you shoe while confronting with a slippery conditions will prove to be extremely hazardous.

On the flip side, or other end of the spectrum, there are many types of creepers and ice cleats that will secure to your foot tenaciously so that there is little to no chance of them dislodging during usage in winter conditions such as ice and snow. The comparison here would be to a pair of high top lace up boots, or maybe ice skates. When tied properly, there is almost zero chance that they will come off your foot inadvertently. The down side of ice cleats or creepers that fasten so well is that they tend to be time consuming to put on and take off. Of course, as far as some industrial workers are concerned, spending a few minutes at the beginning of a day and at the end of a day putting on and removing your ice walking gear is acceptable.

However, think of a worker who must move in and out of variety of environments throughout the course of the day, some slippery with ice or other contaminant, and some clean. This particular employee is not going to want to be faced with the time consuming task of dealing with his ice walking gear and ice cleats repeatedly throughout the day. This employee will abandon the product long before jeopardizing his productivity. And again, the original problem of slips and falls has not been solved and money has now been wasted.

Many companies turn to Winter Walking at this point.

Another issue that tends to confound companies is the seasonality of the problem.

The Nature of Slips and Falls

Over the course of a year a typical industrial company may see 2-5% of its workforce experience a lost work day due to a slip and fall. However, when we are talking about accidents that occur outside in ice and snow, those accidents can typically be isolated into a 3-4 month window, which means conversely, that during 8-9 months there is virtually no slip and fall accidents. During this non-winter period other safety issues rise in importance and supersede winter time slips and falls. Naturally, it seems ridiculous to be studying ice cleats or purchasing ice creepers in June, so despite the fact that slip and falls might account for such a high percentage of accidents, they go virtually ignored for much of the year.

Any Ice Cleat port in a storm

Eventually winter rolls around and after a prolonged period of no slips and falls suddenly there is a rash of them. Now the operations team or safety department is bombarded by what appears to be an epidemic. “Get us Ice Cleats” or “We need Crampons” is the cry from the field. Often times in this situation a safety office will hastily procure the first type of ice cleat or creeper that they can find. Whether the ice cleat is too aggressive or not versatile enough at this point is a detail that the particular safety office does not have the time to decipher. And whether the ice cleat or slip-resistant gear they chose is easy to put on and take off, or secures tenaciously to the foot is also a detail that will elude them.

The odds of obtaining an ice walking item that will be perfect for their employees and help to significantly reduce their ice and snow slips and falls without introducing a host of other problems is slim. And so the problem goes unsolved and money is wasted.

Many companies will turn to Winter Walking looking for the perfect solution.

Of course, after a few months the weather subsides and the winter time slips and falls go away just as fast as they came. And whatever was learned about these accidents and the ice walking gear, ice cleats and other types of slip-resistant footwear that they purchased or researched typically fades away with the weather.

Knowing the inevitability of winter, some long range planning would seem appropriate. However, the cyclical nature of a seasonal safety concern such as slips and falls comes with a secondary enemy: The off season. And so an issue that should constitute year round attention is once again relegated to the back burner.

But Winter Walking can help.

Here at Winter Walking we have been specializing in ice cleats, creepers, crampon, gritted boots and other types of slip-resistant footwear for over 30 years. We offer a wide variety of winter walking devices ranging from the most aggressive types of ice cleats for the most extreme ice conditions to gritted boots and other types of slip-resistant gear for greater versatility. We offer crampons and creepers that are fantastically easy to put on and take off for situations where your employees frequently move across a wide variety of surfaces and require greater versatility, to ice cleats and other footwear items that secure tenaciously to the user foot.

We will work with your company on a year round basis to help you to conquer slips and falls. These accidents may only occur for 3-4 months of the year, but your company pays for them year round! We utilize the entire year to maximize the efficacy of your program. We will study your accidents and work environment and make specific recommendations of which particular ice cleat, creeper or other style of slip-resistant footwear will work best for your company. We will help you to implement these recommended items over the winter and monitor their usage. Then we will make use of the off-season by studying the results of the program through surveys and interviews.

In short, we will help you to conquer your workplace slips and falls.

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If you are about to address the topic of slips and falls at your company or division for the first time, or if you have tried unsuccessfully to conquer this hazard in the past, here are some helpful guidelines based on the work that Winter Walking has done.

The Point of Attack…

Slips and falls are caused by a lack of traction between the foot and walking surface. In the utility and telecommunications industry, or service and delivery industries, many of the surfaces being traversed are either public property or property owned by someone other than your company. Because of this, cleaning or maintaining these surfaces is not something that is in your ability to control. Fortunately, since you can be sure that wherever there is a slip and fall accident, there is a pair of feet, you are far from helpless.

By simply increasing the traction of your employees underfoot, you will greatly reduce the risk of slipping and falling. Soles with spikes, studs, chains or abrasive sandpaper-like coatings can increase traction in slick conditions as much as 50% beyond the plain rubber soles on most work boots. Ice cleats, crampons, ice creepers and other types of slip-resistant footwear will greater reduce your slips and falls.

Look at all Conditions…

Winter time slips and falls go beyond snow and ice. While snow and ice conditions may be prevalent, most often these conditions are only encountered sporadically. Unless your employees do not mind constantly changing their footwear throughout the course of a day, the non-slippery conditions must also be accounted for. Additionally, some types of ice cleats and crampons that are ideal for extreme ice and snow conditions may not be suitable for other slick conditions such as rain, slush and light snow. With all of this in mind, slip-resistant footwear must be able to do the following:
• Increase traction in all slick conditions
• Be safe to wear in normal and clean conditions

Be Prepared…

What makes tackling slips and falls so difficult is the seemingly inconsistent nature of the problem. Because slips and falls are most prevalent during only a four to six month period when there is cold weather, many times the problem is gone for the year before you’ve even gotten a handle on it. Then by the time next winter rolls around, you find yourself back to square one.

It takes not only proper planning, but year round persistence to solve seasonal issues like slips and falls. Although winter-time slips and falls might only be a seasonal problem, the effects, financially speaking, are year round. An you effort to control these losses should be the same. Begin by outlining the cause of your accidents and then pursue possible solutions for testing. Plan on spending the wintertime following through with the testing, this is after all, the best time to test these products. Once the testing is done, you can spend the off season reviewing your results and sharing them with others in preparation for next year. If no product proved successful, be prepared to test more the following winter. But don’t let the ball drop.

Eventually you’ll find that golden item that reduces your accidents to your satisfaction. In the meantime, when that brutal January freeze comes, even if you haven’t found your ideal product, you will be in a much better position to help your employees and your company’s bottom line.
Snow, ice, slush and cold weather rain is a reality that happens year in and year out, with some years worse than others. All too often a slip and fall program falls by the wayside because of a previous mild winter, or the current winter is simply late in arriving.

If you have employees in areas of the country that see foul weather conditions, the worst mistake that you can make is to not accept this risk as a constant and work towards it’s elimination consistently year round. Your crews must be trained and equipped with the proper high traction footwear before the weather changes. Acknowledge the reality of the weather and you’ll see far greater levels of productivity when extreme conditions do hit.

Contact Us for more information.