If your facility's floor isn't in good shape, you might not see that as a big deal. After all, the work is still getting done, and quality products are headed out the door to end users. But damaged floors can cause serious workplace accidents and cost your company a lot of money.
Naturally, you want to save money and keep your workers happy and healthy. That's easier to do when the floor in your facility is a safe, solid, and well-kept surface. Here are four big ways your problematic flooring can become an issue.
1. Trips and Falls, Leading to Injured Workers
Your workers need and deserve a safe space to get their jobs done. If they have to step around or over damaged areas of flooring, that's just an accident waiting to happen. They might be carrying something and miss their footing or simply misstep and get hurt due to uneven or damaged floors.
Not only does that create additional costs and compensation needs, it potentially puts your company at risk of a lawsuit for unsafe working conditions. You'll also have fewer workers available if one or more are injured, which could put you behind in getting your products shipped to waiting customers.
2. Loss of Product From Worker Accidents
When workers trip and fall on damaged areas of flooring, the risk of physical injury isn't the only problem. Falling can also damage any products they're carrying or moving around with hand trucks, carts, or other equipment. This adds to the monetary costs for your business and can delay shipments, as well.
Depending on the specific type of product your company offers, your workers may also need to take time for cleanup in the area. That takes time away from other activities they could be doing, forces other workers to detour around the spot, and generally slows the production at your facility.
3. Higher Costs When You Update Your Floor
The worse the damage is to your floor when you decide to have it repaired and updated, the more it may cost your company to get everything safe and solid again. In other words, don't wait until you have severely damaged facility floors before you work with a company to repair them properly.
Instead, focus on keeping your floors in great shape and getting any repairs or updates handled quickly. When you do that, it's easier for you to spend less and keep costs reasonable. Your workers will thank you, as well, because they can feel confident that the floors in their workspace are safe for them to use.
Taking a careful look at the flooring in your facility and having it repaired or updated before problems start can bring your company a lot of great savings. It's understandable that people want to put off significant updates due to the price, but ongoing maintenance actually costs less overall than deferring maintenance until your company is actually seeing issues with damaged flooring.
4. Repairs to Machinery From Flooring Problems
The machinery and equipment your workers use in your facility can become damaged by chipped, cracked, or uneven flooring. For example, a sharp area along a crack is hard on the tires of hand trucks and other equipment that rolls across it. Especially if your workers are moving products across that area frequently, you may end up replacing equipment more often.
Rather than keep replacing equipment or repairing machinery from damaged facility flooring, it's much easier and safer to fix the flooring problem instead. As a result, your workers will be able to perform their jobs more comfortably, and the amount you're spending on the repair and maintenance of machinery and equipment will drop. That can mean big benefits for your company.
If you have damaged flooring in your facility, it's time to get it repaired and updated. Not only will that save you money in the long run and protect your workers and your equipment, but it can also create more peace of mind. You don't have to just deal with old, chipped, cracked, or otherwise damaged flooring when you can find quality flooring options that meet your company's needs.