Thursday, 3 October 2013

How to Prevent Falls and Slips in the Workplace

Falls and slips in the workplace is one of the biggest reasons for employer's liability claims in the US. Over fifty percent of all liability claims are a result of slips and falls, which means that business owners need to pay careful attention to their risk assessment in order to reduce any accidents.
Workplace accidents can result in fatalities, this includes a slip over packaging tape that wasn't picked up, in fact over six hundred workers died in 2012 as a result of falling or slipping at work.
There are a number of steps a business owner can take to prevent these accidents from happening, carrying out a thorough risk assessment is one of them. A risk assessment takes time to complete, but gives the business owner a workable document to determine what areas of the property have safety concerns.
Based on a risk assessment a company can also write guidelines for staff members to reduce any accidents occurring in the future. Of course accidents are what they are, there is no strict prevention, but efforts can be made to reduce the number of accidents taking place in the workplace throughout the US each year.
Cracks in the floor, broken tiles and lifting flooring can all result in a nasty accident. A slight fall in the office building can leave an employee off work for months, claiming against the company for medical expenses, loss of income and even mental distress caused by the accident.
Broken legs, broken arms, concussions and even death have been seen as a result of a slip or fall from poorly maintained floors. Spending money on the flooring of the building and ensuring the flooring is in excellent condition, maybe combining high slip areas with anti skid tape, can all help reduce the risk of these unnecessary accidents.
Another essential step is to light poor visibility areas to ensure that staff members can see the walkways clearly, this includes both inside and outside the building. Walkways leading to the car park should have good lightening, especially for those winter months when employees will make their way to their vehicles in the dark.
Many accidents result from poor visibility, dark corridors, poorly lit exterior areas and dimly lit stairwells can all result in a serious accident, which in turn can result in a liability claim against the company.
It's advisable to ensure your liability insurance is up to date and that you have adequate cover, a risk assessment, putting down anti skid tape and lighting poorly visible areas won't guarantee that accidents won't happen.
Over and above floor maintenance, you need to ensure your staff follow strict housekeeping rules. If something is spilled on the floor, it should be cleaned quickly, marking the area as wet to ensure other staff members are aware, so they don't slip on the slippery and wet surface. Packaging tape dropped on the floor or boxes should be picked up immediately to reduce the risk of a staff member getting their leg tangled in the tap, falling and breaking a bone.
Rules should be set in place to reduce these housekeeping mistakes, they can be included in the general staff guidelines, a way to reduce workplace accidents from taking place.
Use anti skid tape is slippery and dangerous areas. This anti skid tape can be used on stairs, in high traffic areas and throughout the workplace to reduce the risk of staff falling and injuring themselves, again resulting in a claim against the company.
The anti skid tape is available in a choice of colors to blend in with your company color scheme, so it doesn't look unsightly. Instead the anti skid tape offers another solution to reducing workplace accidents.
NonSlipTapes.com, based in Pennsylvania, is one of the largest suppliers of non-slip tape and floor markings in America. With a choice of colors, lengths and widths available, this tape company can ship exactly what you need to blend in with your company color scheme. Using the latest technology combined with years of experience and knowledge, NonSlipTapes.com ensures that they offer cost effective and high quality tape for any application. Constantly striving to improve their customer's experience, this tape company offers superior customer service combined with quality products that pushes them to the forefront of the industry within the US.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=C_Meacher

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