• Loose, unanchored rugs or mats; and

• Flooring or other walking surfaces that do not have the same degree of traction in all areas.

Trips happen when your foot collides (strikes, hits) with an object causing you to lose your balance, and eventually fall.

Common causes of tripping are:

• Obstructed view;

• Poor lighting;

• Clutter in your way;

• Wrinkled carpeting;

• Uncovered cables;

• Bottom drawers not being closed; and

• Uneven (steps, thresholds) walking surfaces.

How to prevent falls due to slips and trips?

Both slips and trips result from some kind of unintended or unexpected change in the contact between the feet and the ground or walking surface. This shows that good housekeeping, quality of walking surfaces (flooring), selection of proper footwear, and appropriate pace of walking are critical for preventing fall accidents.

Good housekeeping is the first and the most important (fundamental) level of preventing falls due to slips and trips. It includes:

• Cleaning all spills immediately;

• Marking spills and wet areas;

• Mopping or sweeping debris from floors;

• Removing obstacles from walkways and keeping them free of clutter;

• Securing (tacking, taping, etc.) mats, rugs and carpets that do not lay flat;

• Always closing file cabinet or storage drawers;

• Covering cables that cross walkways;

• Keeping working areas and walkways well lit;

• Replacing used light bulbs and faulty switches.

Without good housekeeping practices, any other preventive measures such as installation of sophisticated flooring, specialty footwear or training on techniques of walking and safe falling will never be fully effective.

Changing or modifying walking surfaces is the next level of preventing slips and trips. Recoating or replacing floors, installing mats, pressure-sensitive abrasive strips or abrasive-filled paint-on coating and metal or synthetic decking can further improve safety and reduce risk of falling. However, it is critical to remember that high-tech flooring requires good housekeeping as much as any other flooring.

In addition, resilient, non-slippery flooring prevents or reduces foot fatigue and contributes to slip prevention measures.

In workplaces where floors may be oily or wet or where workers spend considerable time outdoors, prevention of fall accidents should focus on selecting proper footwear. Since there is no footwear with anti-slip properties for every condition, consultation with manufacturers is highly recommended.

Properly fitting footwear increases comfort and prevents fatigue, which, in turn, improves safety for the employee.

It is important to remember that safety is everybody’s business. However, it is an employer’s responsibility to provide a safe work environment for all employees. Employees can improve their own safety too.

You can reduce the risk of slipping on wet flooring by:

• Taking your time and paying attention to where you are going;

• Adjusting your stride to a pace that is suitable for the walking surface and the tasks you are doing;

• Walking with the feet pointed slightly outward; and

• Making wide turns at corners.

You can reduce the risk of tripping by:

• Always using installed light sources that provide sufficient light for your tasks or;

• Using a flashlight if you enter a dark room where there is no light; and

• Ensuring that things you are carrying or pushing do not prevent you from seeing any obstructions, spills, etc.

Employers are required by the Occupational Safety and Health Act to assess the workplace to determine if the walking/working surfaces on which employees are to work have the strength and structural integrity to safely support them.

Employees are not permitted to work on those surfaces until it has been determined that the surfaces have the requisite strength and structural integrity to support the workers. Once employers have determined that the surface is safe for employees to work on, the employer must select one of the options listed for the work operation if a fall hazard is present.

For example, if an employee is exposed to falling six feet or more from an unprotected side or edge, the employer must select a guardrail system, safety net system, or personal fall arrest system to protect the worker. Similar requirements are prescribed for other fall hazards as follows.

A controlled access zone is a work area designated and clearly marked in which certain types of work (such as overhand bricklaying) may take place without the use of conventional fall protection systems— guardrail, personal arrest or safety net—to protect the employees working in the zone.

Controlled access zones are used to keep out workers other than those authorized to enter work areas from which guardrails have been removed. Controlled access zones, when created to limit entrance to areas where leading edge work and other operations are taking place, must be defined by a control line or by any other means that restrict access. Control lines shall consist of ropes, wires, tapes or equivalent materials, and supporting stanchions, and each must be:

• Flagged or otherwise clearly marked at not more than 6-foot (1.8 meters) intervals with high-visibility material;

• Rigged and supported in such a way that the lowest point (including sag) is not less than 39 inches (1 meter) from the walking/working surface and the highest point is not more than 45 inches (1.3 meters)—nor more than 50 inches (1.3 meters);

• Strong enough to sustain stress of not less than 200 pounds (0.88 kilonewtons). Control lines shall extend along the entire length of the unprotected or leading edge and shall be approximately parallel to the unprotected or leading edge.

• Control lines also must be connected on each side to a guardrail system or wall. On floors and roofs where guardrail systems are not in place prior to the beginning of overhand bricklaying operations, controlled access zones will be enlarged as necessary to enclose all points of access, material handling areas, and storage areas. On floors and roofs where guardrail systems are in place, but need to be removed to allow overhand bricklaying work or leading edge work to take place, only that portion of the guardrail necessary to accomplish that day’s work shall be removed. FSM