Prevent Slip-and-fall Accidents in Your Pizzeria

Nothing ruins a pizza party faster than a slip-and-fall accident. Between spilled sodas, flour dust, oily pans and wet entryways on rainy days, pizzerias are full of potential hazards that can send staff or customers tumbling.

These accidents can sideline employees while hurting your reputation and your bottom line. That’s why every pizzeria owner should take slip-and-fall prevention as seriously as perfecting their crust. Proactive prevention can reduce the odds of falls and the injury, damage, complications and litigation they cause.

Why It Matters

“They’re the most common injury in a restaurant, and they’re usually preventable,” says Sojin Thompson, owner of Heard Consulting. “I always say customers and staff equate safety with professionalism. So, any unsafe environment damages that trust. Every interaction in your restaurant will shape the guest’s perception – whether it’s a slip or even the appearance of a hazard.”

“Everyone at every level of our organization has a vested interest in preventing injuries because they just suck,” says Zack O’Connor, senior vice president at Fort George, a pizzeria and brewery in Astoria, Oregon. O’Connor is head of the safety committee and human resources at Fort George. “There’s nothing good that comes out of a workplace injury ever, full stop. Having to help people navigate a confusing and tedious claims process, the disruptions to employees’ schedules, the additional burdens on our coworkers who have to pick up the slack. Transitional work assignments are frustrating.”

Both customers and employees could sue over injuries resulting from a fall, so following best practices to reduce the number of falls and injuries also minimizes the risk of litigation.

Enlist the Experts

There are lots of resources available to help businesses discourage slips and falls. Talk to your insurance company. Many can provide resources, such as checklists and training materials.

Partnering with them also can secure savings. “For our insurance carrier, their underwriting team puts a lot of thought into everything we do throughout the year, all the successes we have,” says O’Connor, “and that’s absolutely reflected in our premium.” He submits documents such as agendas, trainings, statistics and meeting notes to illustrate their safety policies and compliance.

Engage safety consultants. Fort George uses Safety Northwest, a Portland, Oregon-based consulting and risk-management company. Nikki Haebler, owner and Certified Safety Professional, says they help businesses such as restaurants comply with OSHA safety requirements by providing written safety programs and manuals along with mock OSHA safety walkthroughs, wall-to-wall inspections and safety trainings such as fall protection. “If you’re doing everything right, then it’s always a good idea to speak with your underwriter and your insurance agent to help reduce the cost of your workers’ comp plan,” Haebler says.

Restaurant and hospitality consultants also might offer support. For instance, Heard Consulting provides templates for slip, trip and fall prevention policies, as well as for daily and weekly inspection checklists. “A lot of insurance companies will give you a lower rate if you have these policies in place that mitigate risks,” Thompson says.

Identify Your Risk Factors

Review the front and back of house for potential issues. Your insurance company might be able to help with a walk-through inspection and recommendations. Include the exterior on your inspection and inspect at night to make sure lighting is adequate.

Certain areas are especially prone to slips and falls: kitchens, where spills and grease are common; dining rooms, where dropped food and drinks create hazards; entryways, where rain and mud can be tracked inside; and restrooms, where water and cleaning products can leave floors slick.

Consider staff traffic patterns. For example, when employees carry trash, compost or recycling, they may leave a trail of slippery drips.

If you have issues that are hard to remedy, such as uneven floors or other structural hazards, put extra care in making them as safe as possible and training employees to be extra cautious. When replacing flooring, make slip resistance a priority.

O’Connor notes that the main risk factors he encounters are “clutter in our workspaces and just hurrying.” He says their messaging is “almost a mantra: Work on reducing clutter, work on keeping our spaces clean and organized, work on moving with intention, work on focusing and communicating. Don’t run, don’t be frantic. You know, measured intentional movements. That is the most important thing all of us can do to prevent injuries.”

Implement Preventive Measures

Establish preventive measures to minimize the likelihood of slips and falls and incorporate these measures into your training materials. Make it clear to your employees that you prioritize their safety.

Common measures include:

• Declutter: Make sure halls, doorways and walkways are free of obstacles.
• Floor Care: Use slip-resistant mats, maintain even flooring, clean up spills immediately.
• Signage: Place visible “wet floor” signs during and after cleaning.
• Make it policy that one employee stays with a spill while another goes to collect cleaning equipment.
• Lighting: Ensure all walkways and stairs are well lit.
• Use trays: Drips and condensation from drinks can make floors slippery.
• Require non-slip soled shoes: At Fort George, they help pay for employees’ non-slip shoes.
• Tape down electrical cords and cables.
• Stack materials and supplies in an orderly manner.
• Restrooms: Make sure that grab bars are in place, paper towels are near the sink to prevent dripping on floor, and there are no plumbing leaks.

Train and Empower Staff

Restaurants can have high turnover, so emphasize continuously that you take safety seriously, which requires good housekeeping. “You have to ingrain it into your daily operations, your culture,” Thompson says.

Train your employees about how to minimize and address spills. Create clear procedures for spill response and accident reporting. Educate employees on spotting hazards quickly and cultivate a culture that rewards them for speaking out about safety concerns and taking care of each other.

In addition to addressing spills, make sure employees are all trained in proper floor cleaning technique, including using the correct cleaning product in the correct concentration and refreshing mop water, when needed. Poor floor-cleaning routines can fail to remove grease or can leave excess detergent on the floor that makes it more slippery.

Include policies and training for inclement weather, when customers will be tracking in water, snow, wet leaves or mud.

Inspections and Maintenance

Management should schedule and perform routine checks of high-risk areas. Repair uneven flooring, loose tiles or damaged mats promptly. Keep cleaning supplies accessible for quick response.

“If you notice something, you should fix it right away,” Thompson says.

How to Respond to Falls

After a fall, make sure the person’s OK, then try to understand why it happened, Thompson says, adding, “You have to build that culture where it’s OK to make mistakes and learn from them.”

Haebler says an incident report should always be completed by a manager after a fall. Include the cause, the date, time and as much information as possible. Take pictures. This documentation both provides you with data and helps defend against any future disputes.

Analyze your fall data for any trends that indicate where you can improve your housekeeping and slip/fall awareness.

Preventing slip-and-fall accidents protects your staff, your guests and your business. Make safety an essential part of employee relations, customer service and professional operations.

ANNELISE KELLY is a Portland, Oregon-based freelance writer.