How a Company Prioritized Staff Safety with Innovative Snow Melt Systems

The Challenge

Arauco - a design, manufacturing, and distributing company for interior use panels in St. Stephen, New Brunswick - was struggling to keep up with snow fall and ice in the winter season. The production facility employs about 130 people, and in order to strengthen their safety protocols, the company needed to find ways to mitigate the risk of injury due to slips, trips, and falls in weather-related instances. As weather-related falls are the leading cause of injury in New Brunswick, Arauco found it necessary to find a more viable solution to protect their employees in the wintertime, as traditional forms of snow management were not proving to be effective enough.

The Solution

In order to address these safety concerns, Arauco's Safety Committee began investigating what other measures they could implement to mitigate seasonal hazards beyond the use of plowing, salting, and sanding. The Safety Committee located two primary travel pathways that employees used in order to access their facility. These two spots included their security building, which is a checkpoint for all staff, and the path between the main office and one of their facility sites. They decided to strategically place three state-of-the-art snow melting cable systems. This ensured that all employees would have access to at least one radiant heated pathway. By installing these snow melting cable systems, Arauco had found a means of reducing the risk of seasonal-related injury to their staff as well as reducing traditional methods of snow removal. This decision highlights the company's commitment to innovatively modernizing their safety protocols and management of seasonal weather challenges.

The Result

The Arauco facility saw immediate improvements upon the snow melt system's installation. In the winter, the radiant heated pathways proved successful in keeping the walkways free of snow and ice. This reduced the accumulation of snow and prevented the formation of ice before it could become a safety risk to their staff. For their employees, the company saw that there was a reduction of slip and fall incidents, thus improving their safety in seasonally challenging months. This meant that the pathways to the two most frequented facility locations would remain clear and safe for all to use. As employees were no longer succumbing to weather related injuries, which impacted their ability to work, the company's operational efficiency increased. Additionally, previous costs associated with traditional methods of snow management could now be put towards optimizing other areas of employee site safety. Arauco was even awarded the 2024 Safety Innovation Award by the Composite Panel Association (CPA) for their heated walkway installation. This recognition can be attributed to the company's progressive thinking and support of employee safety by incorporating cutting-edge weather management technology into their facility site.