Slips, Trips, Falls, and Hazard Recognition
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 1,000 workers die each year as a result of slips, trips, or falls and countless other mild or serious injuries resulting in days away from work. Although there are no specific OSHA regulations for slips/trips/falls, OSHA does have some standards that play a role to help prevention of these incidents from taking place. These regulations include:
- 29 CFR 1910 Subpart D Walking-Working Surfaces
- 29 CFR 1910.36 Exit Routes and Emergency Planning – Design and construction requirements for exit routes.
- 29 CFR 1910.37 Exit Routes and Emergency Planning – Maintenance, safeguards, and operational features for exit routes.
Even though these are not specifically for slips/trips/falls, they are to help with the prevention of having these incidents take place in the workplace, especially during emergency situations. Through the rest of this article, we will go through the definitions, prevention methods, and hazard recognition of slips/trips/falls and how to mitigate these incidents from occurring.
Definitions of Slips, Trips, and Falls
- Slips – A loss of balance caused by too little friction between your feet and the surface you walk or work on.
- Trips – A motion that occurs whenever your foot hits an object and you are moving with enough momentum to be thrown off balance.
- Falls – A motion that happens whenever you move too far off your center of balance.
Prevention Methods of Slips/Trips/Falls
- Proper Footwear
- Proper footwear plays a major role in helping prevent slips and trips from occurring. Making sure that your footwear is suitable for the job that is being done and is giving the proper traction that is needed. The environment in which you work can play a major role when choosing proper footwear, as well. If work is conducted in an area where it is often wet or has a slippery surface, it is best to have footwear that is non-slip or waterproof to help with traction between your shoes and the surface.
- Signage for Spills/Trips Hazards
- Examples of this may include a wet floor sign or some type of barricade that blocks off an area for preventing foot traffic through the area. This will notify all people in the area that there is something that could potentially cause a slip or trip hazard. Some issues that may occur with signage, is after the spill is cleaned up, the sign or barricade could be left for a while. This could potentially cause people to get used to the signs or barricades being there. It is an important practice to make sure that these signs and barricades are only being used when there is some type of spill and are removed once cleaned up.
- Cleaning Up Spills/Keeping Areas Dry
- As mentioned in the bullet point above, signage will be used when there is a spill to notify that an area needs to be cleaned up. It is important for spills to be cleaned up immediately and for the personnel who conducts the cleaning to do a thorough job of ensuring the whole area is cleaned properly.
- In work environments where it may be commonly wet or slippery, such as a kitchen, it is important to make the area as dry as possible. One way to ensure that these areas are staying as dry as possible is routine cleaning and using slip-resistant mats to help keep the area as dry as possible.
- Housekeeping
- One of the most important ways to help with the prevention of slips/trips/falls from occurring is proper and routine housekeeping. Keeping up on housekeeping around the job facility or worksite will help keep all areas organized and will allow for everyone to know the areas where they are able to walk through.
- Establishing walkways throughout a facility, if possible, will also help show where items may not be left or placed to help prevent slips/trips/falls from occurring. Any items that are left in the walkway must be cleared immediately to keep them free of any hazards.
- Adequate Lighting
- Adequate lighting throughout the entirety of areas where employees are expected to work is vital to preventing slips/trips/falls from occurring. Dark areas will create hazards for employees to not be able to see properly in that area. Even though an area may have a light in it, it may not be enough to properly see in that area. It is important to frequently check the lighting in areas to make sure the light bulbs are being changed frequently and the light is bright enough for the areas.
- Establishing Slip/Trip/Fall Prevention Plan
- Establishing a slip/trip/fall prevention plan will help outline the awareness training that is needed to help maintain against these incidents from occurring, as well as establishing the frequency of how often inspections or audits are being conducted to check the workplace for any issues.
- Safety Culture
- It is important that employees have the proper idea when it comes to preventing slips/trips/falls from occurring in the workplace. Everyone in the organization should have a say if there is something that needs to be cleaned up or if a work area needs to be redesigned to prevent any of these incidents from occurring. Also, providing proper training to all employees to help recognize these hazards and to know they have a say in improving an area to improve these incidents from occurring.
Hazard Recognition
- Training for Employees
- Providing proper training for employees on slip/trip/fall hazard awareness will allow for everyone in the company to have the knowledge to point out any slip/trip/fall hazards they may come across throughout the workplace.
- Inspections/Audits
- Frequent inspections or audits of the workplace will help identify an area that may need attention to help prevent these hazards. Areas may need to be organized or redesigned throughout the workplace and this will help establish that these areas are documented for improvement and then given to specific personnel for fixing and improving.
- Establishing Safety Committee/Safety Meetings
-
- Conducting safety meetings routinely and having a safety committee creates a platform for all employees to have a say in any hazards they may be coming across while performing their jobs. This will help make the hazard known and will create a system for correcting this hazard before an incident from occurring.
Do your employees face fall hazards everyday?
Get them trained by experienced trainers who keep their learners engaged.
Check out our different Fall Training options here.