Slips and trips are one of the most common source of major accidents at work and can take place almost anywhere. 95% of major slips result in broken bones and they may also be the initial cause for a selection of other kinds of accident such as a fall from a ladder.
A lot of slips occur in wet or contaminated situations and a lot trips are caused by poor housekeeping. The solutions will often be easy and affordable, an appropriate assessment of the risks will identify the essential areas an employer can control – such as ensuring employees have suitable footwear, that there are effective floor mats and there is an effective spillages and cleaning routine in place. Even so some businesses and organisations and businesses often do not take the dangers seriously. This is frequently down to little understanding of the causes of slippages or the poor use of management control and risk assessments.
Thanks to better understanding and awareness from the Health and Safety Executive the rates of accidents at work have decreased significantly in the last decade. There have been falls in the self-reported injury and accidents reported by employers. Nonetheless, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) falls, slips and trips account for a third of all reported accidents at work and end in a minimum of 2 deaths a year.
Consequences for a slip or fall at work
An employer has an obligation under the Health and Safety at Work Act to ensure that they manage health and safety dangers in your place of work. They do this by carrying out a risk assessment and take sensible measures to control the risks at work, for instance using doormats to stop rainwater being brought in making a floor slippery.
However, some employers neglect to complete a basic risk assessment and deal with issues before they cause an incident. The consequence and cost of an injury from a trip or slip at work can be more than a loss of income and may include a lifetime of serious pain and medication and lessened quality of life.
Watch our video on how you and your business can stay safe at work. The video is made by the HSE, who is not only a completely independent regulator of health and safety in the UK, but also provides guidance and training and support to business on how they are able to ensure the safety of their workers at work.
Simple ways to help prevent slips and trips
Under the Health and Safety at Work Act organisations have to make sure their workers and anyone else who may be impacted by their work (such as patients, visitors, members of the public etc.), are kept safe from harm and that their wellbeing is not affected. This means trips and slip risks must be controlled to ensure people do not trip, slip and fall. Here are some basic steps to make sure that these risks are kept to a minimum :
- Look for trip and slip risks around the workplace, such as uneven floors, loose cables, areas that are often slippery due to spillages.
- Decide who could be harmed and how? Who enters the workplace? Are they at risk? Do you have any control over them? Remember that the elderly and individuals with disabilities could be at particular risk.
- Think about the risks. Are the safeguards already taken suitable to deal with the risks?
- Record your findings if you have five or more staff.
- Routinely look at the assessment. If any substantial changes take place, ensure existing precautions and management arrangements are still suitable to deal with the risks.
If have you been involved in an accident or have been hurt in a slip, trip or accident at work, then talk to someone on our employee accident team and they will tell you if you have a claim for compensation. Complete our online claim form or ask for a call back using our free solicitor call back service.