Do you need to SLP???

Do you have slippery floors at your home? I do especially my garage floor. So here is the QUESTION:
Q: My garage floor is slippery when slush melts off the cars, which is bad news because I back the cars out and use the garage as a shop. Will painting the floor make it less slippery? The step on my garden tractor is also slick, especially when wet. I’m used to it, but my wife skinned her shin when she slipped on it. Now she won’t use the tractor. Please suggest some solutions. Thanks.
ANSWER:
A: It makes sense to correct these problems. Slip-and-fall accidents kill thousands of people every year and injure thousands more. In 2004, that amounted to about 18,000 deaths, according to the National Safety Council, a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating these and similar hazards.

Fortunately, the fix is easy.

“From an engineering point of view, there’s required friction (the friction a person needs to walk safely) and the available friction (the friction the floor surface presents to the person),” says April Chambers, lab manager at the University of Pittsburgh’s Human Movement and Balance Laboratory. “Your first goal to prevent a slipping accident is to ensure that available friction is greater than required friction.” Translation: Add friction, add safety.

How aggressively you treat the surface depends on the severity of the slip hazard. In the case of your garage floor, I would treat it very aggressively, because a smooth concrete surface that has slush and water on it is almost as slippery as a surface can get. One solution is to apply rows of nonslip tape that has a very coarse, abrasive particle bonded to its face. One of the best is 3M’s Safety-Walk; it’s available in various levels of coarseness to suit the specifics of the application. I’d use the 700 series because it has the roughest surface and it resists moisture. You can also use it on the footing surfaces of tractors and trailers and on boat decks and docks. Porous surfaces need to be sealed with 3M Safety-Walk primer before the tape is applied.

The ultimate parking space Chambers cautions, however, that you never want to increase friction in a manner that creates a false sense of security. That is, taping one section of a slippery floor but not another can actually increase the chance of a fall as someone steps from a secure, high-friction surface to one that’s slippery.

A good way to increase the friction of a large area uniformly is to add abrasive particles to floor paint. Skid-Tex is a fine-grained silica sand that you can add to floor paint at the ratio of 1 pound per gallon. You simply stir it in and then paint as normal.

I am thinking I am going to do this to the bottom of my shoes, especially my high heels I wear in the snow and slush!!!

I think we all really just need to SLP!!!
Sweep up, light up and pick up.

Sweep up.
Don’t let sawdust, planer shavings, wood chunks, metal filings or demolition debris accumulate where you work. Take a break and clear the floor as you work, and again when the job is done.

Light up.
A dimly lighted area conceals hazards, especially at floor level. That’s particularly dangerous in a work area where you’ll likely be handling power tools. Light should be directed from above and from one side to fill in shadows.

Pick up.
Stow boxes, work materials and subassemblies on shelves and sawhorses. It seems strange to think of the humble sawhorse as a safety aid, but it is.

All of these principles can be applied to inside the home too. Keep items picked up off the floor, especially the kitchen and bathroom floors. Keep room well lit and if you have to get up during the night keep a night light on to help you see where your going. And lastly be sure you pick up things off the floor. I know sometimes we can be in a hurry and step over something thinking we will get it next time. Do wait..... it could mean the difference between a dangerous trip (To the floor) and not having a fall. JUST REMEMBER SLP!!!