Slips, trips, and falls in the workplace can be detrimental to your business—and have a major impact on your bottom line. Facility maintenance prevention programs may take ownership over them, but their occurrence can also be directly related to housekeeping standards. Consider the measures in each category below as a starting point to keep your workplace safe: Management

  • Conduct routine “hazard hunts” by leadership or housekeeping handoffs between shift leaders
  • Integrate maintenance department into safety corrective actions
  • Tie items 1 and 2 above into your safety incentives program
  • Implement 5S: Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain

Slips

  • Clean spilled product, paper, wood and trash accumulated in your work area
  • Wear shoes with appropriate non-slip soles
  • Practice safe walking skills
    • Take short steps on slippery surfaces to keep your center of balance under you
    • Point your feet slightly outward

Trips

  • Don’t carry loads you cannot see over
  • Store materials and supplies in the appropriate storage areas
  • Properly maintain walking areas and alert leaders on potential maintenance-related hazards

Falls

  • Assess all working surfaces higher than 30 inches
  • Use 3 points of contact when climbing off equipment, docks or ramps
  • Make repairs to all working surfaces in high traffic areas a top priority

What gets measured gets managed. Make sure your safety management system has a “near miss” reporting program and is enabled to work directly with your maintenance department for corrective actions. Contact Fit For Work to see how we can streamline this process.

45dcc5de832bd105fdf75e9c9a0a8eab
fit for work podcast

Work Injury Prevention