Whether you work indoors or outdoors, at an office block, warehouse or retail outlet, workplace flooring can pose a host of potential risks, especially if you’re living with arthritis.
You can be at risk of falling or feeling unsteady on your feet if the flooring you’re working on is:
- Too polished or slippery
- Too ‘sticky’
- Often wet, for example where people are regularly coming in from outside, or in food and drink settings where people are likely to spill their drinks
- Dry and dusty
- Uneven, for example if there are bubbles in the linoleum, or dips in concrete
Mats and threshold strips that aren’t highly visible or properly secured can also be a trip hazard.
Working on your feet
If you spend a lot of your shift working on your feet, pain in the feet, ankles, knees and upper or lower back can often be a concern.
Wearing appropriate footwear is key, but pain can also be made worse if you’re working on a non-cushioned floor surface, such as tiling or concrete.
Approach your employer about installing cushioned flooring or rubber matting where possible to ease the strain on your joints.
Flooring solutions
Before you can make changes to the flooring in your workspace, it’s important to first double-check the reason for the type of flooring currently in place. For example, certain workplace settings will require specific types of flooring due to things like infection control, durability, or heat resistance.
Once you’ve established that there are no specific requirements for the type of flooring used in your workplace, you can then start to implement solutions that will reduce risk and make working on your feet more comfortable.
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Replace threshold strips with low-profile strips
Being lower in height, low-profile strips pose less of a risk to health and safety than threshold strips, as you’re less likely to trip up over them.
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Use rubber mats in wet areas
If there are areas of your workplace where the floor is often wet – such as where people are regularly coming in from outside or anywhere there’s a sink/supply of running water – you can significantly reduce the risk of slips and trips by introducing a rubber mat.
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Keep things clean
If you work with grease, oil or other fluids, it’s important to make sure everyone keeps on top of cleaning up any spillages. Consider introducing an hourly floor-cleaning rota to make sure this task is never neglected.
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Install cushioned matting
For those who are required to stand still for most of their shift, such as on a production line, cushioned matting (or anti-fatigue matting) can help to alleviate some of the strain placed on lower-limb joints.
