Businesses can reduce winter slip-and-fall risk by clearing snow and ice early, treating high-traffic pedestrian and vehicle areas, using traction or deicing materials suited to the temperature and surface, and rechecking treated areas after weather changes or heavy traffic. Prioritize entrances, ramps, loading docks, parking-lot walkways, shaded areas, and transition zones where meltwater may refreeze. Surface treatment should be combined with appropriate footwear, cautious walking practices, and routine inspection rather than used as a stand-alone measure.
When winter arrives, commercial and industrial properties face a much higher risk of slip-and-fall incidents. Wet surfaces, black ice, snow compaction, and vehicle slip zones all add up to serious liability. The real question many safety directors ask is what can be used to build up traction in the snow around your tires if you get stuck?, and by extension what to use for traction on ice across pedestrian and vehicle zones. Rather than relying solely on reactive measures, businesses must adopt a proactive strategy that treats surfaces, not just footwear or tires. Here are five crucial tips that every business should implement to reduce slip-and-fall risk in winter.
Before the snow even starts, you must plan for treating all high-traffic pedestrian walkways, entryways, loading-dock ramps, and parking lot sidewalks. Early snow removal and application of a surface traction agent ensures safe footing from the start. Waiting until after ice forms allows dangerous conditions to develop.
By applying traction treatment early, you reduce the chance that a slip happens in a high-volume zone. Investing in surface traction is more reliable than relying on salt alone or waiting for employees to tread carefully on slick paths.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, snow, ice and sleet contributed to tens of thousands of workplace slip-and-fall injuries each winter
Winter conditions are rarely uniform across an entire property. Entrances, ramps, loading docks, shaded sidewalks, parking-lot pedestrian routes, drainage areas, stairs, and transitions between indoor and outdoor surfaces can develop different levels of snow compaction, meltwater, and refreezing. Businesses should identify these locations before winter and include them in routine inspection and treatment plans.
When a vehicle gets stuck in snow, a common question is what can be used to build up traction in the snow around your tires? Materials like sand, kitty litter or gravel are often thrown under tires—but these are localized fixes for a single vehicle. For broad-based business surfaces, you need what to use for traction on ice across every foot and wheel path.
Many businesses switch to a mechanical or granular traction agent that embeds into the icy surface and provides grip for both pedestrians and vehicles. For example, Ice Traction is designed to create texture that tires and shoes can bite into, reducing drift and slip risk across entire vehicle routes in parking lots and loading docks. Unlike salt, it delivers traction instead of waiting for melt.
Salt may seem like a quick fix—but it has profound limitations for business environments:
In short, salt alone keeps you reacting—not preventing—and creates cumulative costs and risks that businesses cannot ignore.
Salt can take 15 to 45 minutes to begin melting ice, leaving business walkways and parking lots dangerously slick during that waiting period.
Surface treatment works best as one part of a broader winter maintenance strategy. Mechanical snow removal, appropriate deicing or traction materials, drainage management, entrance mats, winter footwear, employee awareness, and repeated inspections address different parts of the same hazard.
Winter control method | Advantages | Limitations |
Mechanical snow removal | Physically removes accumulated snow; useful across large areas | May leave compacted snow or thin ice behind |
Sodium chloride/rock salt | Widely available; melts ice under suitable conditions | Performance declines at lower temperatures; can affect some materials, vegetation and water quality |
Sand or grit | Can increase surface friction without waiting for melting | Does not melt ice; may be displaced by traffic and require cleanup |
Mineral/mechanical traction material | Can provide surface texture without depending entirely on melting | Must remain exposed on the surface; traffic and weather may require reapplication |
Winter footwear | Adds traction at the individual-worker level | Does not improve the underlying walking surface for everyone |
No traction or deicing material can completely eliminate slip risk. Performance can vary with pavement temperature, moisture, snow or ice thickness, application rate, surface material, traffic, and changing weather. Remove accumulated snow where practical, inspect treated areas regularly, and combine surface treatment with other winter-safety measures. Follow the applicable product instructions and verify compatibility with the surface being treated.
Method | Melts existing ice? | Adds physical grip? | Low-temperature consideration | Typical role |
Snow removal | No | Indirectly | Works across temperatures | Remove accumulation first |
Rock salt/NaCl | Yes | Limited | Melting action becomes slower as temperature falls | Deicing |
Sand/grit | No | Yes | Not dependent on melting ice | Temporary surface friction |
Mineral traction material | No/primarily traction | Yes | Grip is mechanical rather than melt-dependent | Traction on remaining slippery surfaces |
Traction footwear | No | Yes, for wearer | Depends on footwear design | Individual worker protection |
To implement a surface-safe traction strategy, businesses should follow these best practices:
Reinspect priority areas after new precipitation, plowing or shoveling, significant temperature changes, daytime melting followed by freezing, and periods of heavy pedestrian or vehicle traffic. Reapplication should be based on actual surface conditions rather than a fixed schedule alone.
Ice Traction is formulated to be PEOPLE & PET SAFE and non-corrosive. It embeds into slick surfaces and creates gritty texture so tires, shoes and wheels find traction immediately—both reducing slips and enabling safer vehicle movement.
Get Ready For winter INDUSTRIAL GRADE TRACTION For Ice And Snow
Slips, trips and falls are among the most costly workplace injuries—and winter conditions amplify that risk. Businesses must view winter traction as part of their risk management and operations continuity planning.
By using a traction agent that improves the surface universally—not just when someone is wearing special footwear or when vehicles have winter tires—you reduce injury risk, maintain productivity, protect your equipment and avoid liability. The difference between treating snow/ice by splaying salt and proactively embedding traction is the difference between reacting and preventing.
Slips, trips and falls account for over 33% of non-fatal workers’ compensation cost, and winter weather increases those risks substantially.
When walking on snow or ice cannot be avoided, OSHA recommends footwear with good traction and taking shorter steps at a slower pace so workers can respond more easily to changing surface conditions.
In winter, asking what can be used to build up traction in the snow around your tires if you get stuck? or what to use for traction on ice is not just a flick-on question—it’s a strategic decision for business safety, continuity and cost control. Sand under tires might help one truck once. Salt may melt ice—but leaves weaknesses, costs, and risks for your property.
By contrast, a modern traction agent like Ice Traction delivers instant, surface-wide friction. It is PEOPLE & PET SAFE, non-corrosive, and designed for commercial operations where pedestrian foot traffic, vehicle movement, and equipment operations must continue uninterrupted. Use traction agents to elevate your winter prevention strategy—from reactive to proactive.
For businesses committed to safety, productivity and long-term asset protection, surface traction is your foundation. Don’t wait for the slip to happen—build the grip that prevents it.
Remove accumulated snow and ice where practical, then evaluate the remaining surface and apply an appropriate traction or deicing treatment. Continue monitoring entrances, ramps, walkways, loading docks, and other high-traffic areas.
Priority areas generally include entrances, stairs, ramps, accessible routes, loading docks, parking-lot pedestrian paths, shaded walkways, drainage areas, and locations where snow or water repeatedly refreezes.
Not always. Sodium chloride is primarily a deicer, and its effectiveness declines as temperatures fall. FHWA guidance notes that salt action may become impractically slow around 15°F (-9°C) and below under some conditions.
There is no universal schedule. Inspect the treated surface after precipitation, plowing, temperature changes, refreezing, and heavy traffic, and reapply when adequate traction is no longer being maintained.
OSHA recommends footwear with good traction and insulation and advises taking shorter steps at a slower pace when walking on snow or ice.
By Gaia Team