Snow and ice can cause major issues for your parking lot, and keeping employees and patrons safe should be a top priority. Plowing and shoveling helps, but most pavement injuries during this season occur when there is an accumulation of less than one inch of snow. It can mean big trouble for property owners if walkways and parking lots aren’t properly treated and someone slips or gets hurt while patronizing their business. But don’t worry – as long as you’re equipped with the right tools and techniques for de-icing and snow removal, you’ll be best prepared to care for your pavement in the cold winter months.
If a customer slips or injures themselves on your property due to improper ice or snow removal, your business could be subject to a slip-and-fall lawsuit. To avoid this, it’s important to:
- Put up cautionary signs that alert patrons and customers of especially slippery areas.
- Always check the parking lot and walkways yourself to monitor the slip factor.
- Use effective de-icing and snow removal practices.
Prevention
The best way to prevent slip-and-fall accidents and lawsuits is to pre-treat your parking lot and walkways when the weatherman forecasts a snow or ice storm. Anti-icing is a technique where salt is applied to pavement before any precipitation occurs. The salt prevents the bonding of ice and snow to your parking lot and walkways, greatly reducing the likelihood of ice formation and snow stickage.
This prevention method is both cost-effective and safe for the environment. In addition to preventing stickage, anti-icing also helps to prevent the formation of frost. It is a relatively quick process, too, and some parking lots can be treated in a matter of minutes.
De-Icing
Salt can also be used during and after accumulation. Rather than preventing ice formation, the salt helps to melt the snow or ice that has already formed on pavement. This technique is great for snow and ice that have already compacted and bonded to the surface that cannot be removed easily by other means, like shoveling. Shoveling and ice removal can scrape up your parking lot and sidewalks, leaving unsightly marks and dents. This is another reason de-icing with salt is a go-to technique for snow and ice removal, as it has less of a negative effect on the pavement’s appearance.
Tips for Easy & Efficient De-Icing
- If your parking lot is very large, consider hiring a commercial contractor with a salt spreader to treat the lot. Salt spreader machines can even sometimes fit in the bed of large pickup trucks and backhoes. The salt spreads outward as the vehicle is driven through your parking lot.
- For walkways and smaller parking lots, use hand-held salt sprayers or simply lay the salt over the ice and snow with a shovel.
- For heavy snowfall and high accumulation, try to remove as much snow as possible before applying the de-icer to avoid dilution of the salt and increase the de-icer’s efficiency.
- Salt should be applied before and after the storm. Wait to salt the parking lots and walkways on your commercial property until after accumulation has stopped and always try to avoid de-icing in the middle of a snow or ice storm.
Looking for a parking lot contractor in Ellicott City? Contact the professionals at 1-855-GOT-PAVING today!