The Most Dangerous Slip and Fall Hazards are Often Invisible

The problem is always that thin film that’s so hard to get totally cleaned off after all the other steps of spill cleanup are finished. You have sprayed it with heavy-duty cleaner, and it still has that thin oily sheen and is slippery.

In any business, slippery floors are one of the most insidious and hard-to-correct problems day in and day out. Falls from slippery floors injure valuable workers, ruin safety records, and attract OSHA attention. Every production or shop manager knows that cleaning up oily spills is hard to get right, it takes a lot of time and usually management attention to make sure it keeps getting done right. The reason it’s so hard is that the last 5% of the oil residue defies easy cleanup. NEOSafe offers a fast and easy solution. You will not believe the results when you use a small amount of NEOSafe powder on your slippery surface. 

Slips and falls account for up to 15% of all accidents in industrial workplaces. The average settlement for a slip and fall injury is over $20,000 and the legal costs for defending these injuries can easily run to $50,000, and the average lost workdays are 35. With two-thirds of the falls being caused by slips or trips, it’s easy to see why slippery, oily floors are a major issue to be avoided and cleaned up quickly back to a safe walking surface. 

Small Oil Spill Cleanup Procedure

There is a basic emergency procedure for cleaning up every small (1 to 10 gallon) oil spill in a manufacturing plant. The steps are:

1. Stop the source of the spill
2. Warn workers with announcements and then with warning signs
3. Cover the spill with an adsorbent material
4. Stop the spread of the spill with barriers, plugs, and whatever is available
5. Clean up the bulk of the oil with sorbent mats, clay absorbents, or other items that work for bulk cleanup
6. Clean the floor with a degreaser or other heavy-duty cleaning agent that will not damage the floor surface
7. Final Step of getting the oily sheen that just will not come up with the basic steps above. This is the step where NEOSafe really shines; there is no other product like it. 

Bulk Oil Spill Cleanup Procedure

There are lots of options for that “bulk” cleanup step and that’s what most people think of when they are preparing for spill cleanup. All the oil spill kits sold have some form of adsorbent as the main part of the kit. NONE of them have anything included that specifically targets the final oily sheen that can’t be removed easily without toxic chemicals. 

• Clay, commonly known as kitty litter, is inexpensive and widely used. It actually doesn’t adsorb oil but gets coated in it. Clay takes a while to work and can result in silica dust if left on too long. Virginia Clay-Sorb is an example of a clay cleanup product.
• Sorbent Mats are a more expensive but very effective way to soak up oil on floors and horizontal surfaces. They are the best solution in that early stage of cleanup where you are just trying to keep it from spreading. Mats from 3M or Pig are good examples of the product.
• Coconut husks are ground and used for spill cleanup. There are several products like SpillFix that use this ingredient.
• Salt and baking soda are recommended as well. These may work at home but are not appropriate in any industrial setting. The side effects of machinery can be serious. 

These bulk spill cleanup products are essential for the early stages to get the spill under control. They are totally ineffective at getting the last 5% of film cleaned which is where NEOSafe excels. 

Where NEOSafe Outperforms Competitors

NEOSafe is SAFE to use! It contains no hazardous chemicals, is easily cleaned up, disposal is easy, and it has never been associated with any carcinogen as most cleaning products have been. The two main categories of competitor products for the problem that NEOSafe solves include:

Chemical solvents and degreasers. These can be hazardous to workers and often not able to be used in enough volume to clean up oil spill residue. When they are, it usually takes two or three applications to get the floor clean, extending the time to restore a safe surface. They are often corrosive as well and can easily damage some floor surfaces, particularly vinyl.  Heavy-duty disinfectants can be useful but many also contain toxic chemicals and cause reactions in workers with even limited exposure. Phenol, an ingredient in many household name cleaners, has been linked to a range of health problems. Others contain problem chemicals like formaldehyde triclosan and others. 

Requesting Samples of NEOSafe powder for your Factory or Plant

Are you interested in learning more about using NEOSafe in your work environment? Give us a call at 1 (810) 984 4213, or email us at orders@neolube.com.

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