Helen,
 We use Tacky Mats in our lab which,if you are not familiar with them, are layered sheets of VERY sticky material that you place in areas where there is  paraffin use and a chance of tracking it throughout the lab.  When you walk on these mats it pulls the paraffin off of your shoes and,on occasion, actually pulled the shoes off of our tech's feet  !!!  When they get very soiled you just pull off the top layer and there is a new sheet underneath.  I think there are like 30 sheets per pad.  We've not had a fall since using them.

Hope that helps,
 Vicki

>>> lam-helen  02/24/03 12:01PM >>>
Dear histonetters.  I wonder if anyone could share with me the way they deal with slippery floors in the paraffin sectioning area.  The story is like this.  Somebody from another lab entered our paraffin sectioning room (waxed vinyl flooring) in a pair of leather shoes.  She slipped.  We are not sure how it happened because none of us was there.  Was the accident caused by a little bit of spilt water on the floor, high heel leahter shoes or what?  The safety officer of our department got the report and wanted to prevent such things from happening again.   He believed that the slippery floor was caused by wax trimmings that had fallen off the bench-top onto the the floor.  In fact, long time age there was an article in a British journal supporting this view.  (The solution in the article, as far as I can remember vaguely, is the replacement of vinyl with textile type of flooring, but maintenance could be a problem).  He also worried that tiny bits of wax trimmings could be carried on our lab coats to other places in the department.  Our department wanted us to submit some suggestions within 2 months to prevent similar accidents.   So, what do you think?  In the meantime, we try to keep the floor dry at all times, clean the bench of wax trimmings  2-3 times during and after sectioning, and put up warning signs around our 'slippery sectioning area'.  However, our department wants further suggestions and they may be willing to pay for a change of the flooring.  But of course, we don't want to make dumb suggestions that waste money before the cause of the accident is clear. Any of your suggestions would be a great help to us.   Recommendations from specialist in laboratory deisgn and flooring are also welcome.  Thanks in advance.
Helen Lam
Hong Kong