10 Steps to Prevent Slips, Trips and Falls
Want to improve floor safety in your workplace? Follow these 10 steps from Emedco to prevent slips, trips and falls in all of your facilities:
- Inspect Your Workplace
The first step involves assessing your facilities. In addition to looking for at-risk areas in your buildings, you should investigate incidents involving slips, trips and falls that happened in the past. Knowing your own workplace is imperative to improving overall safety. - Mark Aisles and Passageways
Use visual cues to help employees – and visitors – navigate areas around your facilities safely. You can use floor marking tape to identify pathways, equipment and storage areas, hazardous flooring and even forklift traffic. - Provide Traction on Slippery Surfaces
Remember: Slip-free is the way to be! Make sure floors are clean and dry, even after a spill or accident. In the same vein, you should utilize mats, sorbents and other products in areas that are more likely to have slippery substances due to oil or grease. - Improve Stair Safety
Staircases are the most likely areas for slips, trips and falls to occur. Make sure you make an extra effort to equip your stairs with tools that add some traction and give people footing in these potentially dangerous areas. - Make Emergency Evacuation Routes
Employees need the ability to quickly and safely exit the building in the event of an emergency. Glow-in-the-dark floor and stair markings as well as exit and pathway marking signs make it easy for people to see where they’re going, even in dimly lit environments. - Post Safety Signs and Labels
Ensure you’re hanging the right safety signs in the right places. Additionally, check that your signage includes clear headers, bright colors, bold text and clear language. Safety signs will do you no good if they’re unreadable. - Warn of Temporary Hazards
Not all hazards in the workplace are permanent. If there is a short-term hazard in your facilities as a result of maintenance or a spill, mark off the area using portable floor stands or even barricades, if necessary. - Inspect Scaffolding and Ladders
Though 60% of falls occur on same-level surfaces, the other 40% take place from elevation. Keeping that in mind, it’s important to establish a standard for regularly inspecting all the scaffolding and ladders used by workers on a regular basis. Scaffold tags, signs and labels can help you keep track of inspections. - Control and Clean Up Oils and Spills
Despite your best efforts, there are going to be instances of leaks, drips and spills in your workplace. When a spill occurs, the best way to clean it up is through the use of spill control products. - Train Your Employees
Knowledge is great, but it will do little to reduce slips, trips and falls without the proper employee training. Provide your workers with the tools, training and support they need to effectively prevent and respond to slips, trips and falls.
Emedco has everything you need to keep all your workers safe, regardless of the surfaces on which they work. Just give our team of professionals a call at (800) 442-2155 or visit emedco.com to find safety solutions for every challenge.