Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls in Your Workplace

Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls in Your Workplace

According to statistics, most slips, trips, and falls occur on the same level compared to tripping from an elevated space. With the right measures, these incidences can be prevented. What’s important is putting in the effort for proper preparation and setting ground rules for total order on the floor. What matters is having policies and taking initiatives to maintain high-level safety and hygiene. This article highlights information on preventing slips and falls in your place of work.

Main Causes of Slips, Trips, and Falls

In most cases, slip and trip accidents happen due to the loss of grip between the walking surface and the shoe. Falls often happen due to the unintentional contact with a movable or fixed object. Some of the common scenarios are highlighted below.
• Loose mats or rugs
• Surfaces with unequal traction levels
• Wet or damp surfaces
• Worn-out carpeting
• Loose cables
• Spills
• Open bottom drawers
• Oily floors
• Poor lighting
• Blocked view
• Uneven steps
• Litter

Preventing Slip, Trip, and Fall

The best way to deal with a challenge is to eliminate that which causes the problem. Ensuring proper arrangement and seeking janitorial services can be a good starting point in preventing slip, trip, and fall accidents.
Below are some detailed courses of action that will help you put an end to slips, trips, and falls at your workplace.

Proper Warnings and Signs

Putting in place warnings and signs with symbols that are in line with the Criteria for Safety Symbols, is a great way to try and prevent slips, trips, and falls at your workplace. Adding barricades at selected sections and secluding hazardous sections or areas with ongoing processes is also advisable.
Keep in mind that signs can be a good way of reminding employees to rid the area of any waste. It follows that there should be adequate provision of trash cans in the workplace, which should be strategically placed at waste-generation spots. This helps prevent littering and spillage on the floor which are common causes of slips, trips, and falls.

Proper Lighting

Good lighting will help you avoid objects, spills, and other slipping dangers. Floors, corridors, and alleys should be properly lit for clear visibility.

Stairways and Handrail Maintenance

Many fall accidents happen on stairways in workplaces. Efforts such as clearing the stairwells and getting rid of unsecured objects is a good way of reducing injury risk on stairways. These installations will also help further:
• Safe and strong handrails
• Reflective tape on bottom and top stairs.
• Removal of loose carpets or rugs from the stairs

Clean Slippery or Wet Floors

Most slip, trip, and fall accidents will occur on walking surfaces in workplaces. Some of the most common areas where these accidents happen include:
• Kitchen areas
• Shower rooms in residential dormitories
• Sidewalks
• Parking lots
• Floors

Changes in weather can also change the traction on outdoor surfaces significantly. This could, in turn, affect indoor surfaces as pedestrian traffic tends to track in the moisture. This makes it important to take care of parking lot and sidewalk hygiene, as well as repairs. This could be possible with a standard, comprehensive commercial cleaning checklist. Additionally, the following measures could also come in handy in your workplace safety efforts:
• Clean surfaces to eliminate spills.
• Go for moisture-absorbent mats with slanted edges in entrances.
• Go for appropriate mats or rugs in kitchen areas