How To Achieve Continuous Improvements In Reducing Slips, Trips And Falls

When it comes to preventing incidents involving slips, trips and falls, it’s important to have a continuous, multi-faceted programme in place that regularly reviews and assesses performance.

In a previous blog, we’ve given advice on How to prevent costly slips, trips and falls. Here, we detail how to know when you’re getting it right and how to ensure you keep your prevention programme on track for making continued improvements and consequently reduce incidents, absenteeism and resulting financial losses.

Signs that indicate you are getting it right

The ultimate sign of success is the continuous reduction of incidents and injuries occurring in the workplace and then elimination of these incidents completely. The classic signs that your multi-faceted program is successful in tackling your volumes of slips, trips and falls will be:

• Unsafe behaviour is no longer commonplace by either management or workers, and when identified it will be challenged without hesitation.
• Working practices for effectively controlling slip, trip and fall hazards have been designed and implemented.
• A positive attitude has been achieved towards management and compliance, with the workforce ‘thinking safely’.
• Awareness of hazards has increased, along with reporting of incidents.
• The capacity to learn from KPIs, near misses and accidents to bring about continual improvement, has developed.

Don’t let complacency take hold of your safety programme

Once you start to see improvements in your rates of incident and injuries, it’s easy for complacency to take root. Take heed from the safest organisations - you’ll find these are characterised by a state of ‘chronic unease’ about their slips, trips and falls statistics. With this in mind, future proof your programme to ensure that your organisation continues to safeguard against these incidents. Here’s how:

• Make refinements based on changes in processes and evolving habits. One example is implementing simple rules against running in passageways, or walking while looking at a smartphone or laptop – an area which would not have been considered 10 years ago.
• Encourage collective ownership and empowerment – organise frequent safety workshops to keep the hazards and solutions fresh in people’s minds and facilitate a forum for continuous improvement and ideas.
• Look out for case studies and network with other companies for new ideas and hazards that others have experienced.
• Use an effective incentive system for rewarding safe behaviour – see our blog Effective Employee Safety Reward Programs
• Review your Safety Footwear with a specialist and consider the key attributes such as slip resistance, chemical resistance or how to solve issues with problematic feet. At the same time, your PPE provider will be able to help you address your employees’ willingness to wear the appropriate footwear and how to engage with them to help them comply. They’ll also be on hand to introduce new technology and material in footwear to make sure you’ve got the best protection available.

If you need help with future proofing your safety programme for preventing slips, trips and falls in your workplace, our team will be happy to talk you through the best practices to adopt based on our experiences every day. Get in touch, and give us a call on 0800 328 5028 or request a call back from one of our team.