No Slip and Fall Training? Get Real

OSHA’s general industry walking and working surfaces standard doesn’t require any specific employee training or information. However, with slips, trips, and falls constituting the majority of general industry workplace accidents, the need for appropriate training is obvious.

Our sister website Safety.BLR.com® notes that any surface in the work area that can be altered or handled by employees could result in a safety hazard. Training will help ensure that such hazards are not created. All organizations should be concerned about housekeeping and keeping passageways open.

Employee Training

Employees should be knowledgeable about the inspection, operation, and maintenance requirements of their work surfaces.

Basic employee training may include:

• The importance of housekeeping


• The requirement to leave in place all safety features of the building, and to report any damage to these safety features


• Inspection, maintenance, and operation of the working surfaces in your facility


• Organizational policies

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BLR’s OSHA Training System offers a completely prewritten, affordable program to handle fall-prevention and dozens of other mandated training needs. Try it at no cost. Get the details.

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Supervisor Training

Supervisor training should stress the need to monitor the work area for improper use of equipment and housekeeping, and the need to inspect work surfaces for possible damage.

Supervisor training may cover:

• The need to leave guardrails, toe boards, and other safety features in place


• Inspection, maintenance, and operational requirements for equipment and processes at your facility


• The importance of housekeeping

Training Ideas

BLR’s OSHA Training System provides very useful training ideas in its meeting outline on “How to Avoid Workplace Falls.” These include:

• Talk about any slip, trip, and fall injuries that employees in your organization have suffered in work-related accidents. Identify the causes of these accidents and how the accidents and injuries could have been prevented. Maintain confidentiality as appropriate.


• Ask participants if any of them (or anyone in their families) has ever had a bad fall at home. What happened? How could the accident have been prevented?


• Explain the procedure for reporting slip and trip hazards. Usually such problems are reported to a supervisor, the safety manager, or directly to maintenance.


• Remind participants who work in offices that although they might not think that their work area has any hazards, it does—especially trip hazards.


• Talk about the potential injuries that participants could suffer from falls on level ground—for example, strains or sprains, torn ligaments, broken bones, back or spine damage, and even head trauma.


• Describe any accidents that have taken place on stairs in your facility. What caused the accident? How could it have been prevented? Maintain confidentiality as appropriate.

Office Workplaces Are Not Immune

OSHA Training System also provides some practical do’s and don’ts for preventing falls in the office work environment. They include:

Do:

• Turn on lights when entering dark rooms.


• Report broken lights.


• Watch your step when entering and leaving elevators.


• Clean spills and pick up dropped items right away.


• Close file, desk, and cabinet drawers.


• Use a sturdy stepstool to reach items on high shelves.

Don’t:

• Tilt back in chairs.


• Position equipment in walkways.


• Lay cords across the floor.


• Leave boxes or wastebaskets in walkways.


• Stand on chairs, boxes, or tables to reach items on high shelves.

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Try OSHA Training System for a complete solution to your mandated training needs. You can do so at no cost or risk.  Read more.

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This is just a small sampling of the fall-prevention training materials in the OSHA Training System. As its name implies, this is a complete system to meet your full training needs. All the materials are prepared in advance, so no prep time is required. All you do is reproduce what you need and put it to use. Materials include:

• 32 complete safety units, meeting every key OSHA standard. Each includes full background for trainers, a ready-to-use safety meeting, and follow-up handouts.  View a Table of Contents.


• Quizzes, handouts, and copies of 27 different employee booklets, coordinated to the safety meetings. (Booklets can be bought in any quantity at a discount.)


• A complete training recordkeeping and tracking system that tells you which employees need what training, and then tracks your program to ensure they get it.


• Quarterly updates, included with the program. You receive at least  4 new safety units every 90 days, covering new OSHA standards and training needs.

If you share the common problem of never having enough time or the right materials for training, we’d suggest you examine the OSHA Training System program. We’ve arranged for you to do so for up to 30 days at no cost or risk. Just let us know and we’ll be happy to make all the arrangements.