In many countries, slips, trips and falls are the most common causes of workplace injury, causing on average as much as 40% of all reported major injuries.
The outcome from such events can range from minor injuries such as a strain or sprain, to loss of life. Risk assessments outline a range of controls from using safety harnesses when working at height, to holding the handrail as we descend the stairs.
Despite the often-apparent risk of such accidents and the broad application of control measures, the frequency of slip, trip and fall events persists. For example, in the USA there are around two million accidents involving slips, trips and falls on stairways each year.
In Canada, nearly 20% of all workplace lost time accidents are falls in the workplace (around 42,000 each year) with the majority (66%) occurring on the same level. In the United Kingdom, slips and trips are the most common cause of major injuries to employees, responsible for more than half (57%) of all major injuries and almost 30% of over-seven-day injuries to employees.
Falls from height are the next most common and account for around 30% of all fatal injuries to workers. According to results from the latest Labour Force Survey, around 1.5 million working days are lost each year due to slips, trips and falls. That breaks down into 986,000 working days due to slips and trips, and 567,000 working days due to falls in the workplace.
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) confirms that slips, trips and falls are now the largest cause of accidents in all sectors from office work to heavy manufacturing. While no sector is immune to the risk of slips, trips and falls, some do appear to have a higher propensity than others to the risk. In the UK in 2013/14, the highest number of major injury slips and trips in the workplace was in the health and social care sector (1,264) followed by education (982). More than half of all fall injuries resulting in death occurred in the construction industry and the sector also had the most major injury falls, accounting for more than 20% of the total last year. Its the same picture in the USA, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting that in 2009 the incidence rate of lost-workday injuries from slips, trips and falls on the same level in hospitals was 38.2 per 10,000 employees. Notably this is almost double the average rate for all other private industries combined – 20.1 per 10,000 employees.
As might be suspected there are seasonal variations in the numbers of slips, trips and falls, with the majority of major workplace accidents involving slips and trips being reported in autumn and winter. This most likely reflects adverse weather conditions such as slippery ground surfaces resulting from fallen leaves, rain, snow and ice.
Managing the risk
As with many workplace hazards, in order to effectively control the risk of slips, trips and falls we must take a holistic view and consider three factors: people, environment and process.
Environment
Control measures to combat the risk of workplace slips, trips and falls usually begin with the aim of eliminating the risk at source, perhaps by levelling uneven floor surfaces. Changing or modifying walking surfaces can prove effective in preventing slips and trips and there is now a range of proprietary abrasive-filled paint-on coatings that can be quickly and easily applied.
Hierarchies of control then encourage substitution; for example, using an alternative method of floor cleaning, followed by segregation (using barriers or signage to keep workers away from wet floors). The next step on the hierarchy is administrative controls, such as posting warning signs or increasing lighting to indicate changes of floor-levels or steps. The final measure is personal protection; for example, wearing footwear with special non-slip soles.
Process
Among the process factors, work pace, workload and time pressure can often negatively influence employee behaviours around risk, as employees may find themselves within an apparent conflict between productivity and safety. If employees experience high levels of such pressures then their behaviour may visibly change in the form of creating 'work arounds' designed to help them get the job done more quickly. While this may save time and increase individual work rate, it also introduces higher levels of risk.
People
Over the last decade research indicates that up to 90% of all industrial accidents can be attributed to human factors. Accordingly, behaviours should be considered an important part in our plans to minimise the risk of workplace slips, trips and falls.
