New 2025 Insurance Rules Are Catching Colorado Restaurants Off Guard, Here’s What You Need to Know
In the current economic climate, Colorado’s restaurant and hospitality businesses are facing a perfect storm: higher labor costs, stricter insurance policies, and tighter margins than ever before. While operators are focused on staffing, inventory, and customer experience, there’s one critical risk that’s quietly cutting into profits—and in many cases, it’s completely preventable.
We’re talking about slip-and-fall injuries.
👣 What’s Really Costing Colorado Restaurants Money
According to the National Floor Safety Institute, over 3 million food service workers suffer slips or falls annually. In Colorado, that number spikes in winter months due to snow, salt, and water tracked into kitchens and entryways.
For small businesses already battling labor shortages, one injury can:
Sideline a key employee for weeks
Spike your workers’ comp premiums
Invite legal claims and OSHA investigations
Damage your brand’s reputation
Worse yet? Many business owners don't even realize their floors are non-compliant until after an accident.
🚨 OSHA and Insurance Policies Are Getting Stricter
Starting in 2024, several national insurers (and some local to Colorado) have updated their liability policies for restaurants and gyms. Now they require evidence of safety protocols—including documented slip resistance or floor maintenance logs—in the event of a claim.
And OSHA? They’ve increased enforcement of general safety violations, including wet floors, inadequate mats, or failure to provide slip-resistant environments.
You might think your ceramic kitchen tile is “fine.” But without scientific friction testing, you could be sitting on a ticking time bomb.
🧼 Why Standard Cleaning Isn’t Enough
Most restaurant owners assume that a clean floor is a safe floor. But mop-and-bucket routines don’t address micro-texture—the element that gives traction under wet conditions.
Even the best anti-fatigue mats can:
Slide out of place
Trap grease underneath
Create visual clutter that affects design-forward spaces
And epoxy coatings? They’re expensive, messy, and often overkill for a restaurant that just wants to keep their team upright.
🎯 The Overlooked Opportunity in Safety Compliance
Here’s where it gets interesting:
Savvy business owners are starting to realize that proactive safety upgrades are not just about liability—they’re a competitive edge.
Safer kitchens retain workers longer
Documented slip testing can lower insurance premiums
Compliant floors open doors to working with enterprise-level clients (especially in catering, healthcare, and institutional foodservice)
And best of all? You don’t need a remodel, a shutdown, or $10,000 in flooring work.
💡 What Most Businesses Don’t Know (But Should)
Here’s the truth that most floor supply reps and general contractors won’t tell you:
There’s a clear, invisible floor treatment that raises your surface’s friction rating to meet national safety standards—and it lasts for over a year with no downtime.
At Non-Slip Solutions LLC, we help Colorado restaurants, breweries, gyms, and dealerships protect their team and reduce risk with one 30-minute treatment. Using the BOT-3000E tribometer, we can even show you exactly how safe (or unsafe) your floor is—before anything happens.
Whether you run a fast-casual pizza kitchen or a 200-seat steakhouse, you deserve peace of mind. You don’t need to learn this lesson the hard way.
✅ Free Floor Test for Colorado Restaurants
If you’re a Colorado restaurant, café, or small business, we’ll come out and perform a free floor safety test using ANSI-approved slip meters—and give you a report you can use for your own records or insurance provider.
No obligation. No coatings. Just results that help you stay in business—and on your feet.
📍 Serving Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, and beyond.
🔗 Request a Free Test
