All employers should look at their company car park and take steps to improve the safety of this area, as it can be a surprisingly dangerous place. With a few simple steps, you can make this an organised area where everybody is aware of the rules and can move around safely.
Car parks can be incredibly dangerous places for both motorists and pedestrians. Although cars are travelling at low speeds, a car park is an area where there are a lot of vehicles moving in different directions and attempting tricky manoeuvres. In addition to this, you also have pedestrians walking around, and it is not always easy to predict where they are going.
With this in mind, it is vital that you take a look at your company car park and look for ways to improve the safety of this area before an incident occurs. Fortunately, there are a few quick and easy ways to do this.
Make the rules clear
One of the biggest causes of accidents in car parks is people not understanding the rules of the area. Make it clear which direction they should be driving in and where they cannot go with clearly painted arrows on the surface. It is also essential that you invest in traffic signs so that people can see the rules. These should include speed limits, no entry signs, way out signs, guest parking spots and more.
Dedicated parking places
If every employee has their parking lot, it means that everybody knows where they are going in the morning. It can reduce the chance of an accident occurring, as well as stop any arguments over spaces. In addition to individual employee parking spots, you should also have reserved spots for disabled parking, visitor parking and some place reserved for bicycles.
Improve lighting
Poor visibility is another contributing factor to accidents in the parking lot, and this is for both indoor and outdoor car parks. Improve the lighting in the area, and it will reduce the chance of an accident, plus it will also help employees to feel safe when they are alone in the car parking. You can also use CCTV cameras for additional security.
Repaint the lines
If the lines are faded, it can make it difficult to park correctly, and it only takes one poorly parked car to create chaos. Avoid this problem by repainting each line with a bright and bold colour.
Dedicated walking areas
Instead of having people walking all over the car park and putting themselves at risk, create dedicated walking areas to the exit so that they can safely exit the area. This is also beneficial for those driving as they do not have to worry about pedestrians coming out of nowhere.
The company car park can be a very dangerous place and especially if it is a large corporation with a lot of employees and visitors. To stop and incidents from occurring, it is essential that you take a look at your car park and look for ways to improve the safety of the area.
