Last Updated on February 24, 2023 by Ossian Muscad
Slips, trips, and falls are the top three most common workplace injuries. Unfortunately, thousands of people slip, trip, or fall at work every year, leading to severe injury and sometimes even death. While slips, trips, and falls can happen anywhere in any workplace, it is important to be aware of slip trips and fall hazards so that steps can be taken to prevent them from happening.
This article will discuss what you need to know about slips, trips, and falls: definition, causes, existing regulations, and ways to prevent them from occurring. We hope this comprehensive guide helps you create a safe working environment for your employees by preventing future slip trips and fall accidents.
What are Slips, Trips, and Falls?
Slips, trips, and falls are some of the most common accidents that occur in the workplace. These accidents can happen in any workplace, from an office to a construction site. Here’s what you need to know about each type of accident:
Slips
Slips occur when there is too little friction between a person’s foot and the walking surface. Wet or oily floors, loose rugs or mats, or polished or waxed floors can cause this. Slips can cause a person to lose their balance and fall.
Trips
Trips happen when a person’s foot collides or strikes an object, causing them to lose balance. This can be caused by uneven flooring, cluttered walkways, and cords or cables that are not properly secured.
Falls
Falls occur when a person drops from a higher to a lower level. This can be caused by improperly working on unstable surfaces, using ladders or scaffolding, or not wearing appropriate footwear.
Employers are responsible for providing a safe working environment for their employees, including taking steps to prevent slips, trips, and falls. Some ways they can do this include providing non-slip mats, ensuring walkways are clear of clutter and using proper signage to warn of potential hazards.
Common Causes And Potential Risk Factors of Slips, Trips, and Falls
Various factors can cause slips, trips, and falls. Common causes include the following:
Slips
- Wet or oily floors
- Loose or unanchored rugs or mats
- Flooring that is polished, waxed, or otherwise slippery
- Spills, leaks, or other wet substances on floors
- Inadequate footwear
- Changes in floor level or surface
Trips
- Cluttered work areas
- Electrical cords, cables, or wires that are not adequately secured
- Damaged or irregular flooring, including cracks or potholes
- Poor lighting
- Uneven walking surfaces, such as stairways or uneven sidewalks
- Obstructed view
Falls
- Working at heights without proper fall protection or guardrails
- Misuse of ladders or scaffolding
- Working on unstable surfaces or in confined spaces
- Inadequate training in fall protection and prevention
- Poor housekeeping
- Slippery or uneven walking surfaces
As an employer, it’s essential to identify and mitigate these hazards to reduce the risk of workplace slips, trips, and falls. That way, you can help ensure the safety of your employees.
Existing Regulations For Slips, Trips, And Falls
The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued regulations for workplace slip, trip, and fall prevention. The Occupational Safety and Health Standards 1910 Subpart D (Walking-Working Surfaces) establishes comprehensive rules for walking-working surfaces, including but not limited to hallways, storage spaces, service rooms, and working areas. By adhering to this regulation, your company can ensure optimal safety for all personnel traversing these environments.
The 1910.22 Regulations outline several key points to ensure a safe working environment, including:
- Maintain the workroom’s floors neat, orderly, and dry.
- Keep a functional drainage system in place for the safety and effectiveness of any wet surface work.
- Ensure surfaces are free from potential threats, such as jagged edges, loose boards, corrosion marks, spills, leaks, snow, and ice.
- Guarantee that the working surface can safely bear the maximum anticipated load.
- Ensure secure paths of ingress and egress from walking surfaces for maximum safety.
- To sustain its optimal condition, frequently inspect the working surface.
- Address hazardous floors without further delay.
8 Useful Tips for Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls
While slip, trip, and fall accidents can be devastating but largely preventable. Here are eight helpful tips to help you prevent slip, trip, and fall injuries in your workplace:
- Keep walkways and work areas clean and clutter-free: Keep walkways, stairways, and work areas clean and free of clutter to reduce the risk of slips and trips.
- Provide adequate lighting: Ensure that work areas are well-lit to reduce the risk of tripping over objects that may be difficult to see in low-light conditions.
- Use appropriate signage: Use proper signage to warn employees of potential hazards, such as wet floors or uneven surfaces.
- Use non-slip mats and flooring: Use non-slip mats and flooring in areas where spills or wet conditions are common, such as kitchens or restrooms.
- Properly store tools and equipment: Store tools and equipment properly to prevent them from becoming tripping hazards.
- Wear appropriate footwear: Ensure employees wear proper footwear with slip-resistant soles and good traction.
- Conduct regular safety inspections: Conduct regular safety inspections to identify and address potential hazards before they become accidents.
- Train employees on safe work practices: Train employees on safe work practices, such as how to safely climb ladders or scaffolding, to reduce the risk of falls.
By following these tips, employers can help prevent slips, trips, and falls in the workplace and create a safer working environment for their employees.
Keep Your Workplace Safe with a Low-Code Platform
Organizations can effectively manage slip, trip, and fall prevention programs with a low-code platform. Low-code development provides an easy way to create and deploy applications quickly, with little to no coding experience. Low-code platforms can also help organizations easily manage slip, trip, and fall prevention programs by tracking and reporting slip, trip, and fall incidents.
DATAMYTE is the perfect solution for creating workflows and tools tailored to slip, trip, and fall prevention. DATAMYTE is a quality management platform that provides low-code capabilities. The DataMyte Digital Clipboard is a low-code workflow automation software that lets you create and customize slip, trip, and fall prevention workflows. With the Digital Clipboard, organizations can build custom slip, trip, and fall prevention programs to ensure safety in their workplace.
With low-code features such as a drag-and-drop user interface, automated workflows, and customizable tools and reports, DATAMYTE makes it easy to create slip, trip, and fall prevention plans. In addition, DATAMYTE also lets you conduct layered process audits. LPA is an advanced-level auditing method that enables you to observe how workplace slip, trip, and fall prevention protocols are implemented.
With DATAMYTE, you have the perfect solution for creating and implementing workplace slip, trip, and fall prevention programs. Book a demo with us today to learn more about DATAMYTE and how it can help you manage to slip, trip, and fall prevention programs in your workplace.
Conclusion
Slips, trips, and falls are common workplace hazards with severe consequences. To help prevent slip, trip, and fall injuries in the workplace, employers should implement slip, trip, and fall prevention plans. DATAMYTE’s low-code platform offers an easy solution for creating slip, trip, and fall prevention programs. Get started today!
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