How to maintain car park safety during winter

Winter weather can present significant challenges for maintaining car park safety. Icy conditions, reduced visibility, and heavy snow can turn your car park into a hazardous environment.  

At Davis Trackhire, we specialize in providing safe, high-quality ground protection configurations which play a critical role in safety outdoors. Car parks can be made from a whole host of materials. Loose gravel, tarmac, asphalt, concrete and resin are all popular in the UK.  

During the winter months these surface types can present many problems which need careful attention planning and tools. This may include temporary road protection. Here are some expert tips from our team to help you maintain a safe and functional car park during winter. 

When should the safety preparation & planning process start?

You should always be prepared by purchasing or pre-booking the hire of signage, barriers cones and ground protection as the weather begins to cool, ready for the colder months. For car park regulations UK, it is best to always refer to British parking association code of practice.

Whether you choose to purchase, or rent depends on the size and usage of your car park. If you have chosen to purchase or dry hire without installation from a hire company, then you will need to ensure you have obtained the correct matting type for vehicle and pedestrian access. 

The benefits of using a professional hire company like us is, we have all the components and accesoies to support the installation. Some of our configurations include: half-panels, cushion underlay, PVC cloaking mats and sand-filled bags. Here is an example of a temporary car park we fitted and how we sucessfully installed our trackway panels.

7 methods for ensuring car park safety throughout winter  

Remember winter weather can be unpredictable. It is important to always have contingency plans in place to handle extreme weather events. This is especially important responsible for large and busy car parks. 

1. Have a monitoring system in place

You need to ensure you have an appointed person(s) in charge. This person will order checks to the condition of the car park. They must be first to arrive on the premises and make the decision when specialist equipment needs to be installed. The benefit of ground protection mats is, both HDPE and Aluminum panels can be used for long-term hire. This can be throughout the whoel duration of the winter months with little maintenance.  

2. Ensure you’re sourcing the right safety matting

If self-installing, pre-purchased or dry hire safety matting you need to ensure the matting is suitable for vehicle, pedestrian access and any heavy-duty plant or other machinery if they will be using the car park. When our customers hire trackway we complete an in-depth assessment and provide full installation of the set-up. In addition to the mats there are often other components and accessories we use in the configuration. These help to provide ultimate safety for the surface and its users.

3. Consider lease requirements for a temporary car park construction

For uneven, potholed, marshy or even concreate carparks (which can be prone to frost heaves and water runoff) you may need to consider completely covering the surface with a temporary structure, particularly throughout winter. With this you will need to consider cost, logistics and when is the best time to install without causing disruption to those who need to access the carpark.

4. Don’t forget about pedestrian access

It is important you have a distinguished and visible walking route for pedestrians to navigate the carpark. This may be highlighted with signs and painted arrows. You should also ensure that access to the car park is across multiple entrances and exits to prevent unnecessary crossing of the car park, especially in darker conditions. Training and awareness is also key here, ensure you are sending out emails to carpark users about remaining villigent when driving on or crossing the carpark in poor weather conditions and darkness. 

5. Be prepared with grit (and have a plan for regular usage)

An appointed person(s) who is responsible for car park health and safety should be responsible for the laying of grit. Regularly checking weather forecasts so this can be pre-spread before the frost or ice is due. Regularly clearing snow and de-icing your car park is essential. A grit bin or grit storage should always be accessiable, on or within a close proximity to the carpark.

6. Implement signage (both free-standing and ground-based)

Our ground protection mats can be easily stickered or painted for safety and signage purposes. You should consider this kind of signage as well as free standing signs. Slow driving and under 5mph signs should be clear around site all-year around not just in winter. Reflective signage should also be considered. 

7. Consider requirements for lighting due to reduced daylight

Lighting is also extremely important in winter when visibility is massively impaired by fog and limited daylight. Pedestrians need to be able to safely access their vehicles and be clearly identifiable to drivers. Temporary floodlights or tower lights should be considered if there is no other light source.  

Do you need a physical safety plan?

Yes, specifically looking at car park security, they should have a safety checklist/plan in place to reference throughout the winter months. 

This will include checking for ice, ensuring lighting is functioning, ensuring pedestrian access points are accessible, ground protection is in place and entrances and exits are clear from debris and large amounts of snow and ice.  

Making sure you are complying with workplace health and safety (if this is a workplace car park) or local council or the private owner safety regulations is vital. You will also need to ensure your physical safety plan is compatible with the insurance of the car park. You should always check the specifications of your policy to make sure you are complying. Insurers base many of their policy terms and conditions on common incidents thet see in the form of claims. This means their information is very helpful in predicting unforeseen incidents. 

Why choose Davis Trackhire for your winter car park needs?

We are officially Scotland’s top road safety operator, we understand the importance of maintaining a safe and accessible car park, particularly in winter. Our range of groundworks solutions, temporary flooring, and access equipment ensure that you can create and maintain a safe environment for both drivers and pedestrians.

We can help with heavy-duty mats to reduce slip hazards or help with surface repair, we’re here to provide the resources you need to keep your car park safe and functional throughout the season. We are the UK’s largest independent supplier of alluminium roadways, meaning our panel availability is always promising.

You can read about our safety accrediations here.

Keeping car parks safe with Davis Track Hire

Here is but one of many examples of where we have installed trackway in adverse weather conditions. You can view the rest of our casestudy catalogue, to see the diverse range of installations we undertake.

For more information or to discuss your winter car park needs, visit our website at Davis Trackhire, or contact our team today. We’re here to help you ensure that winter doesn’t take a toll on your car park safety.