Slip and fall accidents affect employees as well as company visitors. These injuries can cost businesses a lot of money and may cause employees to miss work if the injury is serious. However, with proper training, the number of slip and fall accidents may be reduced once employees learn how to take proper care of their equipment, and observe maintenance and housekeeping procedures.
- Employees must learn proper housekeeping procedures in order to reduce the risk of slip and fall accidents in the workplace. Slips are commonly attributed to slick substances on the floor or walkway as well as loose carpeting, rugs or other floor coverings that are not properly secured. Train employees to clean up spills from floors immediately when they occur. Walkways, parking lots, and sidewalks should be shoveled and salted in bad weather to reduce the risk of slips on ice or snow. Train employees during routine housekeeping to check and report tears in rugs, vinyl flooring or other floor coverings which will decrease the chance of tripping.
- Train both housekeeping and maintenance staff on how to use notification signs in the workplace. Notifying other employees and pedestrians of spills, wet floors, or dangerous sidewalk conditions may reduce accidents. Train your employees to hang notification signs around areas in which they will be working. If the housekeeping staff is polishing floors, have them hang wet floor signs or set orange cones around the perimeter. You may want to train your staff to hang closed signs on restrooms when they are mopping the floors or post orange cones with danger signs around unsalted walkways or wet stairs. If carpeting is badly torn or otherwise hazardous, use tape to cordon off the perimeter.
- Instruct your maintenance staff to secure cords properly when working with equipment and power tools. Emphasize the need for barricading particularly hazardous areas with caution tape to keep pedestrians away. Slip and fall accidents can be the result of someone walking in a low-light area, so make sure your staff is trained to change lightbulbs and other lighting when necessary. Train your maintenance staff to promptly respond to reports of potentially hazardous areas such as broken stair treads, torn floor covering, and icy or slick sidewalks.
- Train maintenance to perform routine maintenance of the building, which will allow the staff to notice and repair any necessary issues -- like faulty switches or burned-out lightbulbs -- before they become hazards.
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