Plan to Prevent Slips, Trips, and Falls

OSHA says that slips, trips, and falls account for the majority of general industry accidents. That adds up to a lot of  injuries every year, and even some deaths when falls from heights are involved.

In most workplaces a variety of slip, trip, and fall hazards can develop during the course of a workday or workweek:

• Wet spots
• Grease
• Polished floors
• Loose flooring or carpeting
• Uneven walking surfaces
• Clutter
• Electrical cords
• Open desk drawers and filing cabinets
• Damaged ladder steps
• Ice

The controls needed to prevent these hazards are usually obvious, OSHA points out, but are too often ignored.

Let’s look at some of those controls, courtesy of the slips, trips, and falls prevention plan available on Safety.BLR.com.

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Working Surfaces—Housekeeping

Supervisors and workers should adhere to the following requirements to keep working surfaces clear of tripping and other hazards:

• Keep work areas clean and orderly.
• Maintain aisles and other walkways clear of trip hazards, like cartons, stored materials, tools, etc.
• Pick up fallen items from the floor.
• Keep walking surfaces dry.
• Post warning signs for wet floor areas.
• Use nonslip footgear to decrease slip and fall hazards in areas that are frequently wet.
• Report or clean up spills immediately.
• Clean only one side of a passageway at a time.
• Use only properly maintained ladders to reach items. Do not use stools, chairs, or boxes as substitutes for ladders.
• Safely store scrap, debris, and waste, and promptly remove them from the worksite.
• Tape or anchor temporary electrical cords that cross aisles and post a warning sign.

Walkways

Management should implement measures for aisles and passageways such as these in all work areas:

• Provide adequate lighting for work areas, halls, and stairwells.
• Ensure aisles and passageways are kept clear and marked as appropriate.
• Provide secure handrails on all stairs.
• Use no-skid waxes and surfaces coated with grit to create nonslip surfaces in slippery areas such as toilet and shower areas.
•  Cover wet surfaces with nonslip materials such as rubber mats by entryways on wet days.
• Re-lay or stretch carpets that bulge or have become bunched to prevent tripping hazards.
• Repair holes, cracks, and other damage to floors, sidewalks, or other walking surfaces. Cover these hazards otherwise made safe until proper repairs can be made.

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• Ensure safe clearance for walking in aisles, and provide adequate headroom for the entire length of any aisle or walkway.
• Provide standard guardrails wherever aisle or walkway surfaces are elevated more than 30 inches above any adjacent floor or the ground.
• Provide bridges over conveyors and similar hazards.
• Clearly identify changes of direction or elevations.

Elevated Surfaces

The following measures should be implemented for work on elevated surfaces:

• Post signs, where appropriate, showing the elevated surface load capacity.
• Provide standard guardrails for surfaces that are elevated more than 30 inches.
• Provide permanent means of access and exit to elevated storage and work surfaces.
• Ensure adequate headroom where necessary.
• Make sure employees stack, rack, or pile materials on elevated surfaces in a manner to prevent it from becoming trip and fall hazards.
• Provide dock boards or bridge plates for transferring materials between loading docks and trucks or railcars.

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