If you need to direct people, visitors, employees, 3 rd parties away from ungritted/unsalted areas use clear signage. Different signs will be available from signage suppliers. Training Gritting should be carried out when frost, ice or snow is forecast or when walkways are likely to be damp or wet and the floor temperatures are at, or below freezing. The best times are early in evening before the frost settles and/or early in the morning before employees arrive. Salt doesn't work instantly; it needs sufficient time to dissolve into the moisture on the floor.

If warning cones are used, remember to remove them once the hazard has passed or they will eventually be ignored.Discourage people from taking shortcuts over grass or dirt which are likely to become slippery when wet. Consider converting existing shortcuts into proper paths. Snow and ice means wet shoes and boots, which can cause wet patches around the entrances to your business premises. Be sure to place dry Entrance Mats inside the doorways to soak up water and enable people to wipe their feet, and read our blog post on How to Reduce the Risk of Slips, Trips and Falls with Effective Floor Cleaning for more helpful advice. If a canopy is not a possibility, consider installing large, absorbent mats or even changing the entrance flooring to one which is non-slip. Department for Infrastructure (DfI) road gritting staff are on standby 24 hours a day to monitor and react according to the weather conditions.

UK Roads Liaison Group – 'Well-maintained Highways: Code of Practice for Highways Maintenance and Management (2009)' Section 150 puts a responsibility on the highway authority to clear snow from the highway, but only if it is causing an obstruction.Some products may be delivered straight to your door from one of our suppliers and these products will be labelled within the product description. In a small business, it may be appropriate to suggest a rota, but remember to consider those who may be more vulnerable when walking on a i.e. pregnant worker, persons with mobility or health issues etc. However in prolonged periods of snowfall the snow can fall at a rate faster than the grit can mix with the snow, which, means the snow may accumulate. Accumulated snow will have to be ploughed away from the roads or cleared in the pedestrian areas, but this is made much easier by grit spread in advance of the snowfall as the grit already applied reduces the likelihood of the snow freezing on the surface. Road surface temperature and whether the road is wet or dry determines what grit treatment is needed - not the air temperature. Even on cold days the roads may have retained enough heat for treatments not to be necessary. Employers have a duty of care to their employees and customers that might be at risk from hazards and risks related to the employer’s activities. In the case of ice and snow both employees and 3 rd parties (i.e. customers) may need to cross from the public highway onto the Employer’s property where there might be snow, ice or both. A failure to identify this as a risk may leave the employer exposed and employees or 3 rd parties at risk of slipping.

Use grit (see separate article below for more detail) or similar, on areas prone to be slippery in frosty, icy conditions; To achieve and efficient gritting/salting regime matching the tools to the size of area can be helpful. Salt bins (grit boxes) or grit piles may be provided for use by the public, on a self-help basis, on roads with light traffic or streets which aren’t usually gritted, as long as the necessary criteria are met.Grit generously and evenly. Spread the salt generously and evenly over areas that have a high level of footfall, or busy roads using a Salt Spreader. When grit is walked or driven over, the salt grinds down and becomes a saline solution. This ice and salty mixture provides underfoot friction, before disappearing down any nearby drains. Section 41(1A) – "a highway authority is under a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice."

There are some products such as ‘Icemelt’ which claim to work better directly on ice already formed. Salt can stop ice forming and cause existing ice or snow to melt. It is most effective when it is ground down, but this will take far longer on pedestrian areas than on roads. Sofas & Sofa Beds Chairs & Footstools Tables Storage & Home Throws Rugs Dining Chairs Dining Table Sets Cooking & Dining Remove the top layer of snow first. Use a Snow Scoop and/or Yard Brush to remove fresh, loose snow so that grit can be directly applied to ice.In this blog post, we’ll be getting down to the ‘nitty gritty’ of keeping your business premises safe this year, and explain the correct way to grit your paths or road using the right equipment from our Winter Products range. What is grit, and how does it work? The applicable amount of grit is spread on the roads to ensure, as far as possible, that the salinity of any moisture on the roads is sufficient enough to prevent the formation of frost and ice. Will the grit melt snow? This normally happens during prolonged snowfall when the sludge, caused by previous gritting and traffic flow, starts to wash older grit away and so risks the road surface freezing. Rain will also wash away salt. Ahead of a sub-zero night, gritting ideally needs to take place after rain but before freezing as grit spread on ice needs to then be worked into it by moving traffic to make it thaw. The often very small window of opportunity may be missed, or a surprise downpour may take place after a road's been treated so councils will re-run an area if needed. Councils sometimes have to contend with ‘freezing rain' – supercooled rain which falls when the surface temperature is below zero, freezing on impact – which means they may need to re-grit areas. Some of these items can be returned to your nearest Screwfix store, other items require collection and you can do this by calling us on our freephone number 03330 112 112.