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3 SUREFIRE WAYS TO REDUCE SLIPS AND FALLS DURING WINTER
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According the National Safety Council, as recently as 2012 more than 14% of work related accidents that resulted in days away from work were same level slips, trips and falls. If your organization experienced any one of these 131,000 accidents you’re probably aware that the cost per accident can run into the tens of thousands. Factoring in estimates of wage losses, medical expenses, administrative expenses and employer costs the NSC calculates the figure to be $42,000 per accident – an astronomical figure that can wreak havoc to any company’s bottom line. While the data doesn’t break it out,
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a large portion of these accidents
are happening. The good news for anyone looking to prevent these costly accidents is that it can be done. As a matter of fact, there are three surefire ways reduce and possibly even eliminate slips and falls – especially those that happen outdoors in winter conditions. Read The Top 5 Reasons Why Your Company Needs A Winter Slip & Fall Prevention Program
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#1 ELIMINATE THE ACT OF WALKING ON COMPROMISED SURFACES. Take a moment to think about some of the hazardous walking situations that leave your employees at risk of slipping and falling. What if you could eliminate the need to walk in those areas entirely? While this is easier said than done, it’s not impossible. It’s not uncommon for an industry to rethink and re-engineer an entire process in the name of safety and remove the workers and the risk simultaneously. An example of this would be the job function of meter reading in the utility industry. For many years utilities would obtain the necessary data from their meters by sending workers out to physically walk around customer’s properties. Once the snow and ice of winter set in, these workers were faced with compromised walking conditions with nearly every step they took. However once the technology was in place to obtain the necessary data from the meters remotely there was no longer a need for someone to physically walk the properties. Re-engineering this process has likely saved the utility industry a small fortune relative to what slips and falls previously cost them. Of course this process took years to accomplish and was dependent upon a specific technological innovation, it is however a perfect example of eliminating exposure to the compromised surface.
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While re-engineering an entire job function might be a long term goal, you might also have scenarios in your organization that can be handled more expediently, such as rerouting a walking path. Realize that accomplishing this in even one or two areas can make a dramatic difference in reducing your accident rate. The fact is that eliminating the hazard remains the most comprehensive way to reduce slips and falls and the more areas that you can do this with, the less accidents you will experience.
#2 HOUSEKEEPING When you are unable to fully eliminate the exposure to a slippery walking hazard, another option is Housekeeping by maintaining and treating the walking surfaces. For example, employees that must traverse a large parking lot on a daily basis in order to get inside their workplace may regularly encounter compromised walking surfaces during the winter months. Making sure that these surfaces are shoveled and then salted or sanded will serve to decrease the level of the hazard. Being able to effectively Housekeep means having all the right supplies on hand in advance. Waiting until the day before a winter storm to purchase salt will likely leave you out of luck. Effectively housekeeping also means ensuring that you have personnel dedicated to the task not only in advance of the winter event but also during and after. A well kept area would ideally be as close to snow and icefree as possible. In the midst of a storm they may appear to be battling with Mother Nature, but these
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efforts will undoubtedly serve to reduce your organizations exposure to slip and fall accidents. Next to eliminating the hazard, housekeeping may be the next best option. Where this technique tends to get a little tricky is when your employee is faced with a walking surface that is not governed by your organization. You can clean your office parking lot, but you can’t clean public lots or walkways, and if your employee regularly walks off company grounds, your options may be limited.
#3 IMPROVE THE TRACTION UNDERFOOT If you are unable to eliminate the walking hazard and have discovered that Housekeeping is not an option it’s time to turn to the third surefire method: Improve the traction underfoot. While number three on our list, this option often turns out to be the most effective approach for large organizations. One thing that we can be 100% sure of is that where there are slips and falls there are feet. While the 131,000 same level falls that we referenced earlier might all have been under varying circumstance, the one absolute commonality is that every one of those accidents involved feet and a loss of traction underfoot. By simply increasing the traction under those feet you will greatly reduce, and in many cases eliminate slips and falls on ice and snow. There are a wide variety of products available that are specifically designed to improve the traction underfoot. Elements such as cleats, spikes and abrasive sandpaper can all serve to increase traction and help reduce the risk of slips and falls. Most of these products are designed to fit over normal winter footwear meaning that your employees can hang on to their normal shoes and boots. The type of job function and the length of time spent outdoors will likely dictate the type of traction that each employee requires.
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While all winter traction aids will provide some degree of increased traction on ice or snow it is important to recognize that not every ice cleat is appropriate for every job task. This is a topic that you should explore in greater detail but in short, some traction devices are extremely aggressive and intended solely for outdoor use, while other items are designed to be more transitional and allow the wearer to drive or walk indoors without removing. Finding the right products for your organization can be tricky without a trusted and experienced supplier guiding you. But with proper guidance and consultation it’s possible to ensure that every employee in your organization is outfitted properly and that their risk of slipping and falling on ice and snow is mitigated. It is worth pointing out that most successful slip and fall program consists of a combination of all three of these elements; Elimination, Housekeeping and Traction Underfoot. Understanding when and where each of these practices can be applied is what will make your slip and fall program uniquely yours. In summary, if your organization is exposed to winter slips and fall on ice and snow it is possible to greatly reduce and even eliminate these types of accidents. Effectively apply these three surefire methods of attack and a reduction in slips and falls will be your reward. Read The Most Effective Way To Reduce Slips and Falls on Ice and Snow
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Winter Walking provides slip and fall awareness resources through our Safety Partner Program. When you work with Winter Walking, your slips and falls become our slips and falls and we won’t stop until they disappear. Don’t wait until winter to start preparing, learn how Winter Walking can start reducing your company’s slip and fall accidents today.
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