Get Health & Safety Information

LoCall: 1890 289 389

Slips, Trips and Falls

Every year hundreds of people are injured by slipping, tripping or falling. Slips, trips and falls are the second highest cause of reported accidents. Yet many premises visited by HSA Inspectors had not carried out a slip, trip and fall risk assessment.

Slips, trips and falls account for 21% of all notified 4+day injuries (2010).
25% of injured people were unable to work for over a month (2010).
They were the major cause (44%) of workplace accidents reviewed by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (2009).

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work say “Slips, trips and falls are the largest cause of accidents in all sectors ...they have been identified as the main causes of accidents that result in more than 3 days absence from work.” (htttp://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/factsheets/14/view)

Get a grip has the answers

Slips, trips and falls are preventable and everybody has a role to play. Get a grip (440Kb) provides practical, easy-to-implement safeguards. It has three pages of practical advice plus a simple checklist. Download Get a grip (440Kb) here for free. The Mapping tool can help to identify high-risk areas. Sector-specific guidance is also available for education, healthcare, hospitality, suppliers and transport.

Floor Surfaces

Slips, trips and falls should be risk assessed. Get a grip, the Mapping tool and sector-specific guides for education, healthcare, hospitality, suppliers and transport can help, . Following risk assessment, appropriate safeguards should be put in place.

For new floors, slip resistance should be carefully considered at the design and construction stages. The final floor surface should have adequate slip resistance for its use. It’s very important to consider slip resistance in both dry and wet conditions.

Where required, there are several methods for testing slip resistance. The Health and Safety Executive in the UK have produced a six-page technical information sheet on Assessing the slip resistance of flooring. Slip resistance tests are available from private companies in Ireland.

Where slip resistance is inadequate, safeguards outlined in guidance such as Get a grip must be considered. In some cases, floors may need to be replaced or corrective action taken to improve the slip resistance. The Health and Safety Executive in the UK provide useful advice on improving slip resistance on their website. The advice on acid-etching (and hydrofluoric acid) is important. Various floor treatments are available from private companies in Ireland.

Winter Weather Safeguards

The Government Be Winter-Ready website provides information on preparing for winter weather. It has a range of useful advice including a Be Winter-Ready Booklet, with helpful practical advice like “The Office of the Attorney General has advised that liability does not arise when snow is cleared from footpaths in a safe manner.”

The Be Winter-Ready website has specific information for