Slips and falls are creating a crisis for several industries in the economic downturn. Lawyers are targeting organizations that don't have written floor safety policies in place to lessen the likelihood that employees and guests may fall if a floor surface is wet or contaminated. There are ways to dramatically improve any floor's slip resistance by using appropriate products and programs to maintain the floor during the cleaning cycle.

This article, by Nu-Safe VP Ken Fisher, has been featured in the July edition of EzineArticles.com. To get the full story, please go to our FLOOR SAFETY EDUCATION page, or click here: http://EzineArticles.com/?id=2524934 

CNA, the "A" rated property and casualty commercial insurance provider has recognized Nu-Safe as a Safety Resource in the Risk Control tab of its web site.

To see CNA's full Risk Control discussion, click here: http://www.cna.com/portal/site/cna/riskcontrol/

May 15, 2009

Las Vegas NBC affiliate station KVBC reported that a district court awarded $2.8 million to a grocery store checker for injuries sustained after she says she slipped and fell at a local restaurant.

It could be the largest payout ever - unless the restaurant owner in the case wins the appeal he plans to file. The incident happened back in 2004 and finally came to a close this week.

These damages, the victim says, caused her loss of work, pain and suffering, and piles of medical bills. After two back surgeries, she says she is in even more pain and must wear a permanent morphine pump to help manage it.

For the complete story, click on: KVBC Channel 3

"Falls are the number one contributor to deaths in older Americans due to accident," said Mark Grabiner, of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

In fact, every 18 seconds, an older adult is in the emergency room because of a fall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For the entire Good Morning America story, including video, click on: GMA.

The National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI) awarded Papa John’s International (Papa John’s) its 2008 Spirit Award as a company that has demonstrated a significant reduction in slip-and-fall claims.

The award was presented to Mr. David Orberson, on behalf of the Corporate Risk Management Department, Papa John’s International.

“Papa John's is very proud to be recognized for our safety measures to protect team members from work place injury,” Mr Orberson said. “People are Priority #1 at Papa John's, and this is just one of the ways we can reduce work comp incidents and keep our restaurants a safe place to work.”

"The Spirit Award is a fitting recognition of Papa John's commitment and efforts toward this important safety issue,” said Patricia Fisher, Founder and CEO of Nu-Safe Floor Solutions, Inc. “Eleven years ago, the Company began working with Nu-Safe to develop a walkway safety program to reduce slip-and-fall incidents involving its customers and team members. All Corporate locations receive a floor treatment process that makes the floors less slippery when wet. Afterwards the floor’s slip resistance level is measured, evaluated and assessed every six months, which provides demonstrable evidence and documentation as to the effectiveness of its approach. In 2007, Papa John’s continued to see a reduction in claim losses due to slips and falls. "

Papa John’s International, headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, operates over 3,000 company-owned and franchised restaurants worldwide. For more information on the Company, log on to http://www.papajohns.com/index.htm.

Papa John's joins fellow Nu-Safe partner, Westgate Resorts, who received the Spirit Award for properties in 2007.

Falls Leading Cause of Injury Death for People 65 and Older

New Mexico, Wisconsin, Vermont Top List in New 50-State Breakdown

Washington, D.C. – New Mexico, Wisconsin and Vermont have the highest death rates from accidental falls among people over the age of 65, according to new data being released by the National Safety Council at a congressional briefing on this escalating crisis.

“Falls among people 65 and older is now the leading cause of injury deaths,” said Bill O’Connell, executive director of Government Affairs for the National Safety Council. “Furthermore, the mortality rate from falls for older Americans has increased 39 percent between 1999 and 2005. We must find a way to combat this growing public health concern before it is too late.”

According to the 50-state breakdown of senior death rates from accidental falls, New Mexico ranked highest with 99.26 deaths per 100,000 people over the age of 65, and Alaska ranked lowest, with 15.95 deaths. Florida had the highest total number of deaths with 1,405, but ranked 22nd in death rate at 43.01 per 100,000.

“The CDC’s alarming statistics showing that falls among seniors are a leading cause of senior disability and death should be a call to action to all of us,” said Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) who hosted the briefing in conjunction with the Congressional Prevention Caucus. “Senior falls are not inevitable, and therefore we need to focus our federal policies and programs on proven strategies to prevent falls and their disabling and often fatal consequences.”

At the briefing experts from the National Safety Council, AARP, CDC , ElderLink and the National Council on Aging discussed the impact of falls on the elderly, the escalating cost to our nation’s health care system, and the steps needed to deal with this crisis.

“As the nation’s more than 79 million baby boomers head into their senior years, this is a problem that will only continue to escalate,” said AARP President Jennie Chin Hansen, at the Congressional briefing. “Each year, one in three Americans 65 and older falls and nearly 16,000 die from complications from a fall. That’s more than the number of deaths that would have occurred if one 737 airliner had crashed every week of the year, killing all aboard.”

Falls among the elderly also have taken a serious toll on our nation’s health care system. Medical treatment for falls among people over the age of 65 cost more than $19 billion in 2000. That number is projected to increase to $43.8 billion by 2020.

“The average cost of a fall injury for people over the age of 72 is $19,440 per person,” said David Wallace of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention. He noted there are ways to help deal with this problem. ”A recent CDC review of effective community-based interventions showed that falls among older adults can be reduced by 25% to 40% through interventions such as exercise and home modifications.”

There has been some progress on the issue with the recent signing of the “Safety of Seniors Act” (S. 845) into law. The bill calls for a public education campaign, research and demonstration projects to “expand and intensify programs with respect to research and related activities concerning elder falls.”

“With the signing of this legislation into law, Congress and the President have taken an important step in finding a way to deal with the growing crisis of falls,” said NSC’s O’Connell. “However, to show it is serious about reducing the rate of elderly falls, Congress must fund these successful programs and initiatives.” The NSC estimates that Congress would need to add $20.7 million to the CDC budget for FY09 to provide these services.

ElderLink is one of those successful programs helping to prevent older adults from falling in their homes. The community outreach program offers home visits to older adults to help educate them about what they can do to maintain their independence and reduce fall hazards in their homes. Simple vision screening tests for people over the age of 65 also has been shown to reduce falls by four percent.

“Older people want to stay in their own homes and their own communities rather than assisted living,” Jennifer Edge, a social worker from Elderlink in Fairfax, Va., who spends her days helping older adults and their families prevent falls in their homes, told staff at the Congressional briefing. “We go to their homes and show them simple things they can do to prevent falls, such as securing rugs with non-skid bottoms, installing handrails and other easy changes.”

Early in 2006, Regan Scientific Instruments, Inc. (RSI), formerly known as Universal Walkway Testing, LP, submitted a BOT-3000 digital tribometer to undergo a correlation study with the stationary German Ramp. This study was performed at Wuppertal University in Germany. The German Ramp Method (DIN 51130) of determining the Dynamic Coefficient of Friction (DCOF) has been a long-recognized benchmarking test method in Europe and some other countries for analyzing the slip resistance relationships between various footwear, floor surface materials, coatings, and contaminants. A draft report indicates a strong correlation between both device/methods using SBR rubber as the test shoe material.

Source: www.regansci.com

The National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI) awarded Nu-Safe Floor Solutions its 2007 Spirit Award as a company that has embraced the true mission or “Spirit” of the NFSI and whose products contributed to a significant reduction in slip-and-fall claims.

The 2007 Spirit Award in the category of a product manufacturer was presented to Ms. Patti Fisher, President of Nu-Safe Floor Solutions, Inc., located in Walton, Kentucky.

“The mission of Nu-Safe is ... to provide their customers a unique holistic floor safety program focused on their partners’ needs and to offer high quality products and service. In doing such, they have prevented countless numbers of slip-and-fall related injuries saving their customers millions of dollars in reduced injury claims,” said NFSI’s Founder and Chairman of the Board, Russell Kendzior. “They create partnerships by offering a comprehensive approach to reducing slips-and-falls, and have been doing so for more than twelve years.”

Nu-Safe, Inc. is an international producer of various chemical treatments and cleaning agents designed to prevent slip-and-fall accidents. Nu-Safe has developed a unique approach to slip-and-fall prevention which includes:

• A comprehensive line of floor cleaners and treatments
• Periodic, customized walkway evaluations, and other program elements, which help insure floors are being maintained properly

Many of Nu-Safe’s technicians have been NFSI Certified as slip and fall prevention specialists.

Other 2007 NFSI Award categories and recipients include, the Chairman's Award, Steve Spencer of State Farm, and the Spirit Award for properties, Westgate Resorts.

Each of the three recipients received a sculpture commissioned by Bennett Galleries of Placerville, California and designed by its founder, Bob Bennett. Each sculpture reflects the spirit of those recipients who are willing to reach upward, beyond their comfort zone, and serve as a beacon to others in their industry; not just because it's good business, but good for people.

About NFSI

The National Floor Safety Institute was founded in 1997 as a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organization whose mission is to aid in the prevention of slip-and-fall accidents through education, training and research.