A Steep Slope ...

What were the issues?

This project involved a large supermarket near Leeds.  The issue came about after a customer had had an accident on the site, at the front exit and had made a complaint to both the store and to the local MP that the site was unsafe for any user.  An elderly customer had fallen outside the store, the trolley ran away with him down the slope.  Virosafe was contracted to identify the key issues and provide a solution. 

The site had a slope coming out of the main entrance in 2 directions.  Any remedial works would be complicated by the presence of an underground car park, the services to which were housed underneath the slope.   There was also a cash machine at one end of the slope and a trolley bay at the other end.  Any work undertaken on the slope would have to take into account the close proximity of cars driving past as well as the fact that minimum disruption to access to the store was a priority for the store manager.

The outcome …

The Store Manager was delighted as the store didn’t have to close whilst the work was undertaken, so there was no loss of trade or revenue.  The customer who had had the original accident on the slope was very satisfied with the outcome and thanked both the store and Virosafe for providing such a quick and successful solution.

Our solution:

Virosafe submitted a two-week programme of work to be undertaken and completed work within 10 days.  We started by directing the store’s customers and staff safely into the store, enabling the work to be undertaken with minimum disruption (the store didn’t have to close at all whilst the work was undertaken).  We then began levelling off the slope and creating a platform in front of the main entrance.  We then relaid the ramp in block paving and reduced the gradient of the slope to an acceptable tolerance both for wheelchair users and walking customers. As an added benefit, we fitted a guard rail to protect customers using the ramp from vehicles from materials that would be suitable to be used as a handrail should anyone require the need to support themselves in that area. 

The images below show before (on the left) we undertook the remedial work and after (on the right) we had completed the improvements.