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How Do Facilities Teams Prepare for Winter?
Facilities teams prepare for winter by measuring the grip of their highest-risk floors, fixing what the readings show, and checking the basics, such as matting, cleaning methods and lighting, before the weather turns. The aim is to find weak spots while there is still time to act. Preparing for winter is not about cleaning more. It is about making sure the floor and the care suit each other.
The short why
Winter does not usually create a slip problem. It exposes one that was already there. A floor with limited grip can cope in dry weather, then struggle once wet shoes arrive at every entrance. Preparing early means you find those floors on your terms, not after someone has fallen.
Why isn’t extra cleaning the answer?
This is the belief worth challenging directly. The instinct in winter is to clean more often, because more water means more mopping. It feels proactive. But cleaning is an activity, and a safe floor is an outcome.
More cleaning can also work against you. Mopping adds moisture to a floor that is already wet. The wrong product or method can leave a residue that lowers grip. And if a surface has worn smooth, no amount of cleaning restores it. The right standard is the right floor, with the right care.
How do you decide where to focus?
Not every part of an estate carries the same risk. Most of it is low risk, a bit like a 70 mile an hour zone, where keeping floors clean, dry and clear of spills is enough. A smaller number of areas are 20 mile an hour zones, where you need to go further. In winter, these are usually:
- Entrances, lobbies and doorways
- External paths, steps and ramps leading to entrances
- Corridors and stairs on the main wet routes
- Areas near toilets, kitchens and food outlets
- Transitions between different flooring types
Spending effort here, rather than spreading it across every square metre, gives the biggest reduction in risk for the least cost.
What does a sensible winter preparation process look like?
The Slipology Method gives a sequence you can apply across an estate.
Assess: measure the slip resistance of the priority zones, wet as well as dry. Slip resistance is assessed using pendulum testing, the method preferred by the HSE and relied on in UK slip litigation. A Pendulum Test Value (PTV) of 36 or above is generally regarded as low slip potential. Below that, risk rises as the number falls.
Amend: fix the floor and the conditions at source. That might mean changing cleaning products or methods, improving entrance matting, or treating a surface to raise its grip. In many cases, a floor can be treated without being replaced.
Advocate: get buy-in from cleaning contractors, site teams and security, so the standard holds in practice.
Assure: maintain grip through the right cleaning approach and planned re-testing.
Affirm: keep dated records, so you can prove the result.
Slip Safety Services has found that organisations following this approach see a 57%+ average reduction in slip incidents. The improvement comes from fixing real causes in the right places, rather than relying on more cleaning and signs.
What basics should be checked before the weather turns?
The CHIMES framework gives a useful checklist of what drives risk in each zone:
- Contamination: where will water, mud and leaves come in, and how quickly can they be dealt with?
- Heel: what footwear do staff wear, and is it suitable for wet conditions?
- Individual: who is exposed, and what are they carrying?
- Maintenance: which cleaning products and methods are used where, and are floors dried properly afterwards?
- Environment: is lighting good at entrances, external paths and steps, and is entrance matting large enough, in good condition and covering where feet are wettest?
- Surface: has the floor been measured wet, or is it assumed to be fine?
Matting deserves a particular look. In our work, we have seen a major station with three metres of entrance matting where the floor was still wet well beyond the end of it on a rainy day. If three metres is not always enough at a very busy site, a short mat at a smaller entrance is unlikely to be.
Why does acting early help?
Acting early gives you choices. If a zone tests poorly in October, you have time to adjust cleaning, improve matting or treat the surface, and to plan the work around your operations. If you find out in January, after an incident, the options are narrower and the pressure is higher.
Prevention is an investment, not an expense. No outcome can be guaranteed, but dated test results show that you looked and acted, which matters if a slip is ever questioned. This is general information, not legal advice, so check what applies to your estate with your health and safety adviser.
What to do about it
Start with a short list, in order:
- List your wettest and busiest zones at each site, and rank them
- Find out when each was last tested, and whether the test was done wet
- Check entrance matting for size and condition
- Review cleaning products and methods with your cleaning team or contractor
- Check lighting at entrances, external paths and steps
- Get the highest-risk zones tested, then fix what the readings show
- Record near misses and minor slips, and agree a re-testing schedule
Next step
If you are not sure where your estate stands, the Slip Prevention Scorecard takes under four minutes per building and gives you a clear starting point, with a score for each of the six CHIMES factors. For the fuller method behind measuring, improving and proving floor grip, Slipology by Christian Harris covers the process in depth.
Related questions
- Why does slip risk increase in winter months?
- Does rain actually make floors more slippery?
- How much entrance matting do you actually need in winter?
- Should matting be replaced more often in winter?