Anyone who lives in a winter place knows the beauty of a landscape covered in blankets of fluffy, white snow. Unfortunately, you also know the price to be paid for enjoying these vistas: figuring out how to remove snow and ice from the sidewalks, staircases, and walkways around your business.
This tedious task is ongoing and exhausting, not to mention plagued by common mistakes that could have serious consequences. Injuries are a constant risk, not only for those clearing walkways, but anyone who uses them when they haven’t been properly cleared. Slip and fall accidents are all too common during the winter, and there’s significant liability attached to such incidents.
Then there’s the constant conundrum of how and when to remove snow and ice. On the one hand, you want to avoid buildup that could lead to injuries and that makes the removal process even harder. On the other hand, you’re either facing back-breaking labor to clear the walk each day or the potential repercussions of using harmful deicers to make your job easier.
What’s the solution? The good news is that there are ways to minimize liability, avoid common mistakes, and make snow and ice removal far less labor-intensive, without harming the environment in the process. When you partner with the right specialists, they can help you to avoid the most common sidewalk snow and ice removal issues in a variety of ways.
Planning Ahead
Planning AheadYou know the snow is coming each winter, even if you don’t know exactly when it will fall. The good news is, you can take both preventive and reactive measures to keep snow and ice at bay. A good place to start is by tracking the weather.
When a major weather system is moving in and snow is likely, it’s wise to plan a preemptive strike. With regularly scheduled visits, your snow and ice removal service can apply anti-icing agents before the storm even hits to melt snow as it falls and stop the formation of ice on your sidewalks. These professionals want to reduce your liability by minimizing buildup, and the best way to accomplish this goal is with regular visits to your property to manage cleanup and implement preventive measures.
Are preventive services really necessary? If you want to protect your business against the liability of slip and fall incidents, the answer is yes. Preventive maintenance will make it much easier to manage snow and ice removal down the line, especially if you schedule regular applications, and this could save you money in the long run. While you might spend a couple hundred dollars on preventive measures, the cost to pay out on a slip and fall accident could cost a couple hundred thousand.
Naturally, you want sustainable options that won’t harm the environment or make anyone’s pets sick, especially since these agents can remain on sidewalks for hours or even days, depending on the weather. Your snow and ice removal specialist can provide you with safe and natural options for preventive maintenance on your property.
Hiring a Reputable Service Provider
You pay someone to manage the ongoing hassle of maintaining your business landscaping. Why wouldn’t you do the same throughout the long, cold winter months by partnering with a reliable company that offers year-round service, including snow and ice removal? These experts have the skills, specialized equipment, and deicing products to keep your sidewalks free of snow and ice that could prove harmful to employees, customers, and passersby, reducing your liability throughout the winter months.
Whether you’re physically unable to keep up with snow and ice removal on your own, you’re too busy to maintain your property, or you simply hate performing this manual labor in the cold, you needn’t suffer and subject yourself to the liability of icy walkways. The right landscape maintenance company can provide the year-round service you need to keep your property safe and welcoming, and even offer the sustainable solutions that ensure you maintain an eco-friendly approach to property maintenance.
