How to Prevent Slips, Trips & Falls | JanSan
Slips, trips and fall injuries cost the UK nearly a billion pounds a year and cause approximately 50 fatalities. But these incidents are preventable, and appropriate action should be taken to minimise the chances that these occur within the workplace. There are a number of causes that can lead to slips and trips, and so it is important that these can be easily identified so that they can also be easily prevented. This blog will outline the causes of these accidents and outline guidelines and control measures to enhance your trip hazard protection.
Slips occur when there is too little friction between someone’s footwear and the walking surface, which can be caused by a number of hazards including: wet or oily surfaces, bad weather, flooring with varying tractions and spilt liquid. Trips, however, occur when your foot collides with an object which will cause you to lose balance and fall over. Several (easily preventable) factors cause this, which can involve obstructed view, low lighting, cluttered floors, wrinkled carpeting, loose cables and walking surfaces that are uneven.
Preventing the occurrence of accidents within the workplace is essential for the safety of your employees, visitors and anyone else who may be passing through. So JanSan have collated a number of guidelines to help with trip hazard protection.
- Maintain good housekeeping practices: Good housekeeping is an essential routine to keep your facilities clean and well-organised. There are just a few very simple steps that you can do to get started, including planning ahead, assigning responsibilities, and establishing housekeeping procedures as part of the facilities daily routine. If your housekeeping is poor, then the risks of slips trips and fall sin the workplace increases. This in turn boosts the number of employee injuries and increasing costs of insurance.
- Reduce wet or slippery surfaces: the surfaces we walk on account for a huge portion of injuries within the workplace, and wet floors means that traction is reduced and the chance of slipping increases. There are many measures that can be taken in order to minimise these risks, including using SlipStop, using anti-skid adhesive or absorbent floor mats, and even removing water from the surface as soon as its spilt.
- Maintain proper lighting: darker lighting limits your vision and means you are less likely to see where there may be a spill on the floor, leading to slips and falls. All areas should be kept well-lit and clean, so if there is a chance of a tripping hazard, it is seen and easily cleaned or avoided.
- Proper shoes: Wearing sturdy, high quality shoes is a pivotal part of PPE. These are a huge factor in providing support when moving through facilities and a solid grip can vastly reduce the number of falls.
Control measures to reduce slips and falls
Wondering how you can how to prevent slip trips and falls at work? There are a number of control measures that can be adopted to prevent any slippery fall hazard. Though wet floor signs are a staple and effectively make people aware of the problem, if the occasion arose where there was a leak, the wet floor sign would have to be accompanied by buckets to catch the water, which are space consuming, cluttered and an eyesore. For this reason, JanSan are providing you with SlipStop, a complete solution to catching leaks and spreading awareness of the risk. With the wet and windy weather coming, leaks are becoming more prominent indoors which creates slip hazards that could be detrimental to a person’s health if gone unnoticed. SlipStop utilises a wide funnel to collect leaks straight into a bucket, minimising slips trips and falls in the workplace and improving your professional image. The SlipStop Cone has a robust design for busy areas and is easily stackable for simplified storage, or if you are looking for something more portable, the SlipStop 65 starter kit can provide you with a lighter weight, flat packed solution for easier carrying and lower storage capacity.
JanSan are now stocking the SlipStop on our website, and when you order a SlipStop 65 Starter Kit – you get 20 absorbent collect liners free!
Sources: http://www.slipstripsandfalls.org.uk/slip-trip-and-fall-statistics
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