Lodging Engineer
Proper Mopping: Your Best Defense Against Slips & Falls
By Alan Mayr
CEO, MARBLELIFE, Inc.
Could the way your maintenance staff mops
your floors be creating problems?
As one of the larg- A qualified floor care
est stone, tile and company will have the
grout restoration equipment necessary to
and maintenance assess your floor’s coef-
companies in the ficient of friction and will
country we find understand how their
the most severely restoration, maintenance
needed training and cleaning methods im-
throughout North pact this coefficient. The
American hotels is first step is to measure
“How to Properly Mop a Hotel Floor.” The your floor’s coefficient
vast majority of housekeeping and main- of friction upon their ar-
tenance workers BELIEVE they know rival and then again af-
how to mop a floor, but in reality many are ter they have completed
doing damage to their grout, and reduc- their service. While the
ing their floor’s static coefficient of friction focus is on maintaining
(SCF). the natural surface, res-
Why? They THINK they understand how
toration contractors often
the “mop process” works, but in truth do
find they are educating
NOT. As such, they not only leave dirt on
management regarding
the floor, they may create an unnecessary
the impact housekeeping
safety hazard and contribute to staining
practices have on SCFs
the floor’s grout lines.
and floor safety. Typically,
poor floor safety is caused
The Static Coefficient of Friction (SCF) is
by improper mopping or
the unit of measure used to communicate
dusting techniques. The
slip resistance. The U.S. Department of
good news is this is eas-
Veteran Affairs provides a guideline that
ily correctable with a little best defense against slip and fall claims
has been adopted by the industry as the
training, but left unaddressed can result is to first make sure you do not have a
closest thing to a standard. It recommends
in SCF values below what is deemed to slip-and-fall condition; second, establish
a 0.5 Static Coefficient of Friction as pre-
be a safe despite your floor’s clean ap- defined processes to manage dust and
senting a safe condition. However, few
pearance. water intrusion and removal; and third,
property owners know what their floor’s
SCF is under best conditions, let alone
While legally you are responsible for
maintain complete records and SCF
how housekeeping might be impacting
maintaining the safety of the public in your
measurements that can be independently
this. Worse yet, they have no means to
hotel, there are no laws defining floor fric-
confirmed. The ability to demonstrate that
demonstrate they are monitoring their
tion or anti-slip requirements. A frivolous
you are aware of the factors that affect
systems. The good news is this can be
lawsuit can run anywhere from $15,000 to
safety, you convey to your housekeep-
quickly and cost-effectively addressed.
$50,000 or more in today’s litigious soci-
ing teams the risks to be managed, and
For more information on SCF, go to the
ety. Developing your defense now before
have a system of measuring and monitor-
National Floor Safety Institute at http://
a claim is made is your best strategy and
ing safety performance can go a long way
www.nfsi.org/.
will discourage opposing counsel. Your
toward discourage opposing counsel from
pressing their claim.
PAGE 13 | Winter 2009 / 2010 | Lodging Engineer
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