Ways of Avoiding Slips, Trips and Falls at Work

Slips, trips and falls are the single biggest cause of injury at work and account for millions in lost revenue each year, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Whatever the industry, no employer is immune from the risk of slips, trips and falls as the smallest height can become a danger under the right circumstances.

Praxis42 takes a look at the danger of slips, trips and falls and provides you can raise awareness of the risk.

Create Good Practices

Creating a culture of good practices is a great way to avoid such risks, as it creates an awareness of safety around the workplace. If you let your housekeeping habits become poor then the risk of falling will increase as there will naturally be more boxes, rubbish, files etc which are potentially in harm’s way.

Make sure you plan ahead, especially when first setting up your workspace. Create specific areas or rooms for any files, tools or equipment you may need. Keeping them in walk ways is only inviting injury as this increasing the chance of somebody walking into them or tripping over.

Assign some responsibilities to deal with certain aspects of the workplace, such as cleaning up the filing or clearing away tools. Instill responsibilities within each employee to tidy up after themselves, that way if you take care of your own mess you can expect others to do the same, keeping the entire workspace clean. Try to erect signs with reminders for people to clean up after themselves to avoid people being complacent. It only takes one day of people not following procedure for an injury to occur.

Maintenance

Maintaining the workspace you’re in is very important in avoiding slips and trips.

Walking surfaces are the most obvious as they’re the most likely to cause a slip or fall whether it’s from a spilt liquid or fault with the flooring. Ensure to clean up any spills as soon as possible and erect slip signs to warn anyone walking past of the danger. Do the same for any flooring that’s damaged by replacing it as soon as you can. These can easily be missed and cause serious injury when it’s so easily solved.

Traction on outdoor surfaces is important too, which are sometimes harder to deal with due to constant weather changes. It’s up to you to ensure your parking is safe from danger, in the winter when ice is very common, try to help by changing the parking arrangements if needed. In more serious cases you may have to close the parking all together if it’s too dangerous to use.

E-Learning

Education is very important, especially when it comes to safety within the workplace. Sometimes it’s difficult to get your employees to stay aware of signs and safety emails, so it’s vital you use courses. Traditional courses can be expensive, from the initial cost of course itself, the travel time or the business time lost.

E-Learning is a great alternative to this, allowing you and your employees to educate themselves in the risks of slip, trips and falls in the workplace. It’s possible to be completed at home on a multitude of devices in their own time and at their own speed. That way, nobody is left behind and your entire workforce is qualified to keep each other safe while at work.