Property management services in advance of and during the winter season are rightly focused on risk mitigation and protection measures. Northeast Ohio winters bring a series of hazards to prepare for ranging from slip and fall injuries to property damage, with disruptions of all varieties mixed in between negatively effecting power, communications, transportation, supply chains, and well, you get the point. In the commercial real estate market, 32 degrees Fahrenheit is otherwise known as a liability alarm. Ice hazards, even those that are often overlooked, are sometimes costly and always dangerous. In building a winter risk mitigation strategy around these ice hazards, consider to the landscape.
On the liability scale, protecting human assets is paramount. This article makes no attempt to dispute that fact. But just like employees, clients, tenants, and patients, plants and trees are living and breathing too. Their importance may be overshadowed and they are incapable of filing personal injury suits, but they are assets that should nonetheless be protected. In this second series of “non-traditional ice hazards” for commercial property owners and managers, the case is made for the commercial landscape.
Commercial landscape maintenance in Northeast Ohio is widely considered to be a “seasonal” business during the months of April through November. But there are important landscape maintenance and management measures that should be implemented year round. In many cases, the best defenses to ice start with the landscape design, well before the hazard even exists. In others, preventative maintenance measures can go a long way in protecting a landscape investment. Described below are the five top ice threats to commercial landscapes and what property owners and managers should be doing to defend their “green” assets.
Let’s face it, ice is awesome when it cools our summer drinks and provides an element of recreation or sport, but most of the time, we view it as a hazard. To treat this hazard as seriously as the liability it creates, think beyond the usual suspects. Make sure that you are prepared to mitigate these ice risks with a sound strategy. The professionals at Brian-Kyles are eager to help.