Falls and slips

The National Safety Council reported that slips and falls are the leading cause of death in the workplace, and the source of more than 20 percent of all disabling injuries. Falls cause more than 564,000 disabling injuries each year. 

Slips and falls may be among the easiest incidents to isolate and prevent. Much of the corrective action involves safe housekeeping practices. The condition of the working floor surface is another area of importance. 

Sometimes slips and falls are blamed on clumsy people and little thought is given to prevention. A slip and fall is usually the result of an abnormality in the environment that suddenly makes a routine act dangerous. A slip occurs when there is a sudden loss of traction between the shoe or foot and the walking surface. The normally dry surface of a floor or stair provides enough traction for people to move about without slipping 

A smooth, shiny surface on a floor looks terrific, but water, chemicals, oil, snow, ice, or grease can turn the surface very slick. All of this adds up to the high potential for a slip or fall. Steel, coated concrete, diamond plate, and tile can easily provide a very slippery surfiice if coated with any of the contaminants 

Slippery surfaces can be temporarily corrected through the use of peel-and-stick tread tapes, sand added to paint, and chemical etches. But all of these remedies wear quickly and could possibly pose additional problems. Permanent coatings should not be applied until the floor has been meticulously cleaned of all grease, dirt, paint, oil, tar, glaze, surface hardeners, loose mortar, and cement. Light abrasive blasting and acid etching are two of the more common preparation techniques. 

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A. a teacher leaves to receive an emergency phone call and a student slips and falls. 

At one time water based emulsions of waxes were routinely used on floors in the home and the work place. They imparted a wonderful shine to the floor but the coatings were very slippery underfoot. Slips and falls were a significant hazard. As dirt was tracked onto the floors the sheen and the slippery character disappeared. What was needed was an invisible dirt which would reduce the slip and not affect the shine. 

A male roofer sits in the induction room and listens carefully, he nods in all the right places, agrees with the site rules and the fundamentals of the Incident and Injury Free (IIF) safety programme in place on site, and signs up to his method statement and risk assessments, which clearly state he will use the lanyard and harness at all times when working on the roof. A mere two hours later he is seen working on the pitch of a wet metal roof with his lanyard still attached to his harness and not to the safe anchor point a few feet away. This is an unsafe behaviour which could result in a serious, potentially fatal accident, should he lose balance, slip and fall. 

In addition to the motivating factors, safety and health professionals should be aware that the safety and health function, unlike other operational functions, can be influenced by other factors beyond the safety and health professional s control, which can impact the safety and health function and motivation of the workforce. For example, if the operation is anticipating a reduction in the workforce (RIF), this anticipation could result in higher injury rates, increased workers compensation costs, and related factors. The safety and health function also possesses the seasonal or operational ebb and flow of the specific operations. For example, the number of slip-and-fall injuries increases during the months of November through February when snow is on the ground. Safety and health professionals should be keyed in to the unique features of the specific operations and workforce. 

Physical hazards include piping that may trip the entrant or cause the entrant to slip and fall. There could be holes or drop-offs, electric wiring, steam lines, and vessel internals... 

Slip and fall hazards are present, and there may be standing water. 

Some other points to make when training on avoiding slips and falls include ... 

Physical therapists use different modalities for treating patients. Some of these treatments include ice bags, moist hot packs, whirlpools, and various exercise equipment. There is a potential slip and fall hazard if water is spilled on the floor or if electrical or other cords run across pathways. OSHA requires safe cleanup of spills and walkways free of obstructions. Floors must be kept clean and dry. Nonslip mats and other dry standing places should provide traction. Use nonslip floor mats in whirlpool areas. Keep aisles and passageways clear and in good repair, with no obstruction across or in aisles that may create a hazard. Provide floor plugs for equipment, so power cords do not run across pathways. Place a table to the side of the hydrocollator machine that stores the moist heat packs. 

Potential exists for slips and falls in the radiology area Ensure floors don t contain slip hazards snch as water, blood, vomit, or excreta. Keep aisles and passageways clear and in good repair with no obstruction across or in the aisles. Provide floor pings for eqnipment to prevent the need for placing cords across pathways. Report and clean all spills immediately. Correctly maintain floors by nsing nonskid waxes. 

Dipilla, S. Slip and Fall Prevention A Practical Handbook, 2nd ed. Boca Raton, FL CRC Press, 2010. Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000. Federal Emergency Management Agency, http //www.fema.gov/library. Donaldson, M. (ed.). To Err Is Human Building a Safer Health System. Washington, DC National Academy Press, 2000. 

Softer, G. Stop Slip and Fall Accidents. Mission Viejo, CA Softer Engineering Company, 2000. 

The surfaces and devices on which people stand, walk, work, and climb contribute to many accidents, injuries, and deaths. They incur significant costs. Falls result in 20% of aU accidental deaths. Slips and falls are the leading cause of accidents and deaths in the home. A study of CaUfomian worker compensation claims found that work surfaces are the most common agent for job-related injuries (21%). Falling objects also cause many on-the-job injuries. ... 

S.M. Szymusiak and J.P. Ryan, Prevention of Slip and Fall Injuries, Part 1, Professional Safety, June 11-15 Part 2, July 30-35 (1982). 

Slip-Resistant Soles There are many surfaces where workers may slip and fall. The combined properties of two interfacing materials of shoes and floors can provide friction and prevent slipping. Proper shoe soles play an important part in preventing slips. 

Slips and falls may appear to be simple trivial accidents, but they result in thousands of deaths and cost billions of dollars in direct and indirect cost [59]. According to statistics compiled by the National Safety Council, falls are the second leading cause of accidental deaths. Over 40% of the dollars spent on workers compensation in the U.S. food service industry are due to the results of slips and falls. Annual expense from slips and falls is about 12,000 per restaurant for an average of 3-4 accidents per year. In 1988, for example, more than 12,000 people died from accidental falls. In public areas such as hotels, motels, and restaurants, slips and falls occur more frequently than any other accidents. Slips and falls can result in serious injuries, especially to the head and back. The floor surface is the single most important factor contributing to slips and falls. The slip-fall relationship between the floor snrface and the floor coating is also an important consideration, as it relates to liability and worker s compensation, especially in the fast food industry, where a floor can be wet or greasy. 

The slips and falls hazard very much depends on the traction or slip resistance of the flooring materials. The tendency of falls and slips can be correlated with the static coefficient of friction (SCOF). 

If a climber slips and falls, engaging the fall-arrest system, his or her body harness (and lanyard, too, if used) has been shock loaded. When the climber returns to the ground, the harness must never be worn again and must be immediately taken out of service (as specified by the PPE manufacturer). 

Contributing factors can be events or conditions that alone do not cause the accident to occur. They, along with conditions and events, increase the probability of the accident occurring. They set up the accident to occur. For example, The road is icy. This contributing factor can set up a number of accidents, for example, a slip and fall or a motor vehicular accident, either hitting another motor vehicle, hitting a stationary object, or hitting a person. 

FIGURE 16.2 Drivers can slip and fall while mounting and dismounting vehicles. 

Extreme care must be taken by workers when ascending and descending a set of stairs. Many serious injuries and even fatalities occur when workers slip and fall on stairways. 

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