The Need For Safety Carpeting

In my younger days, when I was a student at McGill University, in Montreal, I successfully advocated for the installation of safety carpeting inside all downtown campus buildings.  In winter, especially, wet floors are slippery; and some of McGill's older buildings—like its Arts building—have treacherous, marble floors.

I now think that all restaurants and medical buildings should be required by law to install or put safety carpeting inside their entrances. 

Last autumn, I entered a restaurant when the weather was a mix of rain and flurries, and my canes skidded on the wet entrance floor and I nearly fell.  Upset, I summoned the manager and suggested that he install safety carpeting inside that entrance. I was pleasantly surprised, when I finished my meal and was leaving the premises, to discover that a large piece of safety carpeting had been manually placed where I had requested.  I certainly did not leave without first thanking the manager for his quick response.

We are an aging society: many of us use canes, crutches, walkers, and wheelchairs.  We are frailer and our balance uncertain.  It's time for establishments to do the right thing and put safety carpeting inside their premises.  This common sense request, if adopted widely, will curtail falls, injuries,  and subsequent lawsuits.  It's simply the right thing to do.