Slips, Trips, and Falls

Workers involved in hazardous waste eleanup, handling hazardous materials or other hazardous substanees, faee a more serious safety and health risk than do most eonstruetion or manufaeturing operations. In addition to the typieal slips, trips, and falls found in other eonstruetion or manufaeturing operations, employees handling hazardous waste or ehemieals may eneounter a variety of other hazards ineluding fires, explosions, and health-related issues assoeiated with exposures to toxie substanees. 

In most cases, physical hazards are easy to identify. Let s consider housekeeping items. These items can contribute to slip, trip, and fall hazards. Most people are comfortable in observing and fixing these types of hazards, especially after an accident occurs. After all, you can easily see these types of hazards. The accident occurrence is also easy to envision. 

Consider some alternatives. We should eonsider using eontrol aeeess zones (CAZ) to limit worker exposure to zones where slip, trip, and fall hazards exist. By limiting worker exposure we should be limiting aeei-dent oeeurrenees. If equipment is a temporary problem, we should eonsider leasing or rental. If labor is a problem, we might eonsider utilization of temporary employment ageneies. 

Equipment may get washed with a steam jenny and allowed to air dry on plastic in a more remote area. We need to keep in mind that steam cleaners have the potential to cause substantial physical harm. The combination of high-pressure water and high temperatures can be dangerous. Wlien this is coupled with a worker standing on visquine or plastic, it becomes a slip, trip, and fall situation. Situations compounded with respiratory and whole-body protection, such as saranex or rubber suits and gloves, add in the potential for poor vision, heat stress, and the lack of physical dexterity. Keep these issues in mind prior to steam cleaner activity. 

A review may uncover "common" minor safety hazards that are of the nature of slips, trips and falls. These may be noted and appropriate recommendations made, however the team should strive to avoid undue concentration on these events, as the objective of these reviews are to identify potential major process hazards. 

When selecting the type and manufacture of the PPE, the purchaser should understand the functions being preformed by the responder and the chemical and physical hazards associated with the operation. They must also know how the operation and chemical will effect the degradation of the suit, gloves, and boots and the tactility and dexterity needed by the responder. Especially when Levels A and B equipment is in use, it is important not to overlook nonchemical hazards, such as heat stress, cold stress, slip, trip and falls, moving equipment, and lifting. 

Product transfer and slip, trip, and fall hazards. 

Consider carrying out a site inspection. Whilst it is relatively simple to identify the unsafe, there may simply be too many potential hazards and risks to ever confidently proclaim safe in a given situation. Gravity is arguably one of the key hazards we have to deal with on construction sites, and as a result there is always the potential for slips, trips and falls within any task. When considered from this perspective - and the fact that this is one of the most common causes of minor accidents on UK construction sites-the limitations of the lexicon quickly become apparent. Who can confidently declare safe when people can trip up on the flattest and cleanest of surfaces ... 

Haslam, R. A. and T. A. Bentley. Follow-up Investigations of Slip, Trip and Fall Accidents Among Postal Deliveiy Workers. Safety Science, June 1999. 

Slips, trips and falls are still the major causes of accidents at work. To help prevent them ... 

Housekeeping is the routine care and cleaning that needs to be acted on daily in order for a facility to function safety and properly. In Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulation 29 CFR 1910.38 (b) (3), it states that the employer shall control accumulations of flammable and combustible waste materials and residues so that they do not contribute to a fire emergency. Additionally, housekeeping procedures shall be included in the written fire prevention plan. Additionally, 29 CFR 1926.25 similarly states the need for housekeeping activities at construction locations. Common injuries due to poor housekeeping include slips, trips, and falls. 

A nonprofit organization founded in 1997, whose mission is to aid in the prevention of slips and trips-and-falls through education, training, research, and standards development. It arms to assist businesses to resolve its slips, trips, and fall hazards. 

It is led by a 15-member Board of Directors representing product manufacturers, insurance underwriters, trade associations, and independent consultants. Its primary standard development includes the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) BlOl committee for the measurement of the coefficient of friction of various walkway surfaces to determine how slippery their surfaces are and therefore may contribute to an incident. It recently has introduced a listing of products for rating walkway surfaces resistance to slips and also can undertake testing of existing surfaces for slip resistance ratings. See also Slips, Trips, and Falls. 

Lifting and carrying Falling materials Slips, trips and falls... 

Health Care Workers Slip-, Trip-, and Fall-Related Concerns and Prevention Strategies... 

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