How to Keep Floors Dry in a Restaurant

Learn how to avoid wet floor hazards.

Wet floors in a restaurant may be unsightly and slippery, but they also create a potential liability for your restaurant should an employee or customer fall on one. To protect yourself, you need to do everything you can to keep your floors dry and safe in both the front and back of the restaurant. Learn some techniques to make sure your restaurant's floors stay as dry as possible, even when customers and employees are tracking in snow and rain.

Instructions

1. Place floor mats at the entrances to your restaurant, including in the back, and in other high-traffic areas. This may sound obvious, but not everyone does it. The sight of the floor mats prompts people to stomp and drag their feet to get rid of excess snow and water. In foul-weather situations, this takes care of a large part of your wet floor problem right at the door.

2. Place food service mats behind the bar and at the kitchen stations. These mats are made of thick rubber with quarter-sized holes in it. The holes allow the water to settle down to the floor but leave the top of the mat dry with plenty of traction. The holes also trap a lot of the water that does spill on them, so it does not spread across the kitchen.

3. Place floor dryers in places that just will not stay dry, such as the dish tank or the customer waiting area. These devices are about the size of a lawnmower body, though much quieter, and blow air across wet floors to evaporate water quicker. If you hesitate to put one in the front of the restaurant, think about where you could conceal it, perhaps underneath a coat rack, table or bench.

4. Keep mops handy and make sure your employees know where they are and how to use them. If the only mop in your restaurant is in the basement, your employees will tend to ignore the mess and hope someone else takes care of it, especially during a busy shift. Let them know that dry floors are a priority and show them where to find a mop.

Tips & Warnings

• Your employees will follow your example. If you are the first person to see a wet floor, take care of it yourself to show them that you are serious about dry floors.

• Place "wet floor" signs around a spill until someone has cleaned it up.