Reducing the Risks: A Slip, Trip and Fall Prevention Plan for the Workplace

Trips and falls at work can cause serious problems for you and your employees. Not only could your employees be badly injured from even a simple fall, leading to distress for them and the loss of a worker for you, but you could even find yourself on the wrong side of legal action.

Reduce the risks of trips, slips, and falls by following a simple checklist that will ensure your place of work is safe for everyone.

Assign Responsibilities to Your Employees

Everyone has to work together to make your place of work safe, and your employees need to know what their responsibilities are. You should make it very clear to them what they should do if they notice a spillage or an obstruction that could lead to a fall, whether that is to clear it up themselves, place warning signs, or alert someone else to the problem.

Make Sure Everyone Wears Suitable Footwear

Sensible footwear is essential if you want to reduce the risk of slips (check out this footwear safety factsheet for more info on this topic). Shoes with non-slip soles should be essential in a warehouse, factory, or other premises where slips present a greater risk. Make sure your employees know of their responsibility to wear the correct footwear, or provide it to them as part of their uniform.

Make Sure You Have Good Lighting Throughout the Premises

Low lighting can increase the risk of falls because people may not see the obstructions in the first place. Make sure you have adequate lighting throughout your premises, and especially in areas that are naturally darker. This is especially important if people will be working on the premises overnight, and pay particular attention to stairs, corridors, basements, and other areas where lighting is even more important.

If someone falls over and hurts themselves due to poor lighting, this could increase the risk that they may take legal action. Personal injury lawyers like Salvilaw.com regularly help employees to make claims for compensation, so you want to prevent accidents happening in the first place.

Take Proper Care of Outside Areas

As well as ensuring the inside of your premises is fall-proof, make sure you don’t ignore the outside areas such as parking lots, the sidewalk outside, and the entrance to the building. If the weather is bad, have a plan in place. For example, if it snows or freezes over, make sure you get rid of this to make the area safe to walk on.

Look Out for Obstacles

Unexpected obstacles and obstructions can increase the risk of falls, so always be on the lookout for them. Ask your employees to do the same so that they can remove them, and check the premises regularly yourself to look out for broken floors, raised carpets, loose cables, and other risks. Then fix any problems before they cause an accident. There is some more information on fall prevention here that you might want to read through.

Keep Your Workplace Safe for Everyone

It is your duty to ensure your place of work is safe for your employees and anyone else who enters. While trips and slips may seem minor, they can lead to serious injuries—and serious problems for you if you end up facing legal action. Don’t take the risk, and instead follow this simple checklist to ensure your place of work is safe for everyone.

Owen Giles worked as a health and safety coordinator for many years. Now retired, he enjoys spending some of his time writing articles on a topic he knows much about.