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Slipping, Tripping And Falling Your Way Out Of Some Serious Dosh


To someone who’s never dealt with the risk of them, they might sound like a negligible concern. However, slips, trips, and falls are the single most common cause of both minor and major injuries in the workplace. It’s not just in relatively more dangerous work environments like construction sites. Falls can also be initiators of even more serious risks involved with heights, machinery and other risks that would normally warrant our full caution. If you’re not prepared for the risks that slips and trips could prove in your workplace, you leave yourself open to the greatest source of injury to your workers.


It’s all about good housekeeping

Cleaning companies such as Ideal cleaning are trained to take care of deep cleans, maintenance and general health checks, but between these thorough services employees should hold themselves responsible for general upkeep. You have to change individual employee behaviour. Make it a policy with real repercussions that any mess made by an employee has to be cleaned as soon as possible. Make wet floor signs available and accessible to anyone. Understanding a lapse in focus is important so you’re not punishing people for simple mistakes, but you need to highlight the importance of following the policy at the same time.

Keep clutter cordoned

In some workplaces, you can’t expect the environment to be kept 100% tidy at all times. In construction, manufacturing, warehouses, and other settings you are going to deal with goods and materials being transported. Which means that in between transit, pieces are going to be left sitting. But the danger of that extra clutter needs to be mitigated. It needs to not be in the way where it can cause real danger. In those kinds of work environments, you need to take the extra step of designating walkways. Using tape like www.brady.co.uk/en-gb/products/area-and-logistics-marking/floor-marking/warning-tape-toughstripe, you can very visibly mark off those walkways. Again, they only work with enforcement of the rules from your end. Don’t let anyone ignore them.

Take your stairs seriously

As mentioned at the top, the most serious thing about slips, trips, and falls aren’t the risks of falling themselves. Rather, it’s the other risks they can serve as a contributing factor to. Falling from heights is clearly one of the most dangerous of those. In most workplaces, the stairs are going to be the most common instances of encountering any kind of dangerous height. So, if you haven’t made sure your stairs are as safe as possible, now is the time. No matter how minimalist the design of your office, you need handrails from places like www.stainlesshandrailsystems.co.uk/stainless-steel-handrails/, for one. Look into fitting a different tread texture onto your stairs as well. Glass treads might seem stylish, but they offer nowhere near the safety of mats or slip resistant strips.

Get your people equipped

There are some environments where tidying up isn’t going to do much good. When the environment is slippery, such as working outside in the rain, then you need to look more at how you prevent slips on the employee’s end. You should always take the time to audit workplace risks and invest in the appropriate personal protection gear. Yet many employers overlook how much good a simple pair of boots can do. Slip resistant footwear like those found at gorillasafetyfootwear.co.uk/product-category/home/features/src-slip-resistant/ is essential for anyone working outdoors or any kind of environment where the ground can’t be fully maintained as often as you would like.

Let there be light

Of course, any hazard is made into much more of a risk when the person encountering it isn’t able to identify it. The quality of lighting in the workplace and the number of slips and falls in that environment are more than an indirect correlation. Especially in places with heights, such as stairwells, or places with a higher risk of clutter, like warehouses, you should invest in more extensive lighting. Lighting is important for a lot more than mitigating the chances of a spill, as well. They offer better concentration and accuracy from employees. They also play a big role in creating an environment that is more active and pleasant to work in. Lighting is one of the most important aspects of a workplace that all too often gets looked over entirely.
Beyond paying worker’s compensation, leaving your work environment a minefield of tripping hazards could put you in very real legal danger. Start thinking about the tips above and create a much safer workplace.

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