According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics and National Floor Safety Institute, slips and falls in the workplace are the second-most common reason people take time off work. They account for over eight million emergency room visits and are also the leading cause of workers’ compensation claims.
As common as slips and falls are, any business owner who doesn’t want to contend with a slip and fall claim can put measures in place to manage the risk. As a result of those measures, they may just be able to reduce the number of slips and falls that occur in their workplace.
If you’re intrigued by the prospect of being able to make your workplace a safer place, consider any of these risk-reducing measures below.
Create a Risk Assessment Plan
A Slip and Fall Risk Assessment Plan is one of the best things you can do to uncover and identify any workplace risks that could cause slip and fall injuries. Part of forming this plan involves having individuals or departments within a workplace responsible for picking up after themselves and cleaning their area.
This plan can also outline potential risks and how you would mitigate those risks. If anything, this plan creates awareness, which in itself can possibly prevent slips and falls in the future.
Remove Obstacles
If you don’t want to contend with a slip and fall claim due to obstacles in the workplace, consider removing these obstacles and being proactive about any in the future. Obstacles can be anything from trash in a doorway to boxes and equipment left in stairways, doorways, or around corners.
Keep all walkways free of clutter, and make sure that cables, wires, and hoses, don’t become trip hazards by securing them firmly to the floor or running them along walls instead.
Remove Slip Hazards
The majority of workers’ compensation claims are related to slippery floors causing a fall. While some flooring materials, like tiles, are more slippery than others, there are plenty of things you can do to reduce the risk of them causing falls and injuries.
Take care of spills as soon as they occur, use wet floor signs, and consider laying down anti-skid tape or materials in high-risk areas.
Improve Lighting
Walk through your building with a critical eye. Are there any areas where lighting isn’t adequate or could be hiding obstacles? Ensure that all parts of your workplace are well-lit, particularly stairways, basements, walkways, and ramps.
Encourage your team to turn on the lights of each room they enter, even if they know what they are looking for in poorly lit rooms. Make sure you also place all light switches close to doors and replace burnt-out bulbs immediately.
Enforce a Dress Code
Even if your workplace doesn’t have a uniform, a dress code with minimum requirements may be able to prevent slip and fall claims from being made. For example, a rule for construction workers to always wear shoes with plenty of sole grip and steel toes may be able to prevent crush injuries and slip and fall injuries.
You may be able to avoid other accidents in the workplace by enforcing rules about not wearing loose clothing or accessories that could become tangled in machinery.
Highlight Hazards
If there are any hazards in your workplace you can’t fix right away, make sure your team knows they are there. Signs and hazard tape are an excellent place to begin. For example, you may like to install signs that alert employees and visitors to uneven surfaces, cracks in flooring, or even risks of falling items.
Not every workplace hazard will be able to be rectified. Still, you may be able to limit injury claims by ensuring your team is aware of potential dangers.
J. Alexander Law Firm In Dallas Can Help With Slip And Fall Accidents
There is no way to prevent a slip and fall accident in your workplace. Nor is there even a way to prevent one from happening to you. However, the frequency of those accidents may be significantly reduced by putting measures in place to make your workplace safer.
Consider making any of these changes above, and today if you have been the victim of a slip and fall incident. J. Alexander Law is here to help!