In July 2012, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) announced a new set of standards for walkway safety. Entitled the “Standard Guide for Commercial Entrance Matting in Reducing Slips, Trips and Falls,” the new standards address the safety concerns surrounding entrance mats and runners in the nation’s businesses.
The ANSI Committee on Slip, Trip and Fall Prevention provides safety standards for selecting, installing, inspecting, caring for and maintaining all commercial entranceway flooring.
According to Robert J. Moran, who chairs the ANSI slip and trip committee and serves as Chairman and CEO of Ludlow Composites, “This standard not only covers where and how mats should be deployed, but it also identifies the hazards associated with inappropriate mat placement and use.”
Moran added, “We also believe that the standard will soon be adopted by the insurance industry and serve as an important tool in preventing their insureds’ growing mat related trip-and-fall problem.”
When it comes to slip, trip and fall accidents, unsafe walking surfaces top the list—NFSI estimates up to 55 percent of those incidents involve safety flaws in walking surfaces. For that reason, the agency works to provide standards that will prevent the injuries these accidents cause.
The founder and president of ANSI, Russell Kendzior, weighs in on the importance of the new standards saying, “although entranceway matting can play a significant role in preventing accidental slips . . . they often contribute to trips and falls when buckled, curled, or flipped over. As the number of floor mat related trip-and-fall lawsuits continues to rise, we believe this ground breaking new standard provides a new standard of effective care in the proper use, maintenance, and inspection of entranceway floorway matting.”