slips and trips in the workplace

Preventing slips, trips and falls

A slip, trip or fall at work can lead to injuries – and even death. In 2013, injuries from slips, trips and falls resulted in 229,190 cases involving days away from work, and 724 workers died, according to the 2016 edition of the National Safety Council chartbook “Injury Facts.”

These sobering statistics are a stark reminder that workers need to know how to prevent slips, trips and falls. Here, the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety explains the differences between slips and trips, and offers advice on how to prevent falls and stay safe.

Slips and trips

Slips happen when there isn’t enough friction or traction between your feet and the surface you’re walking on. Common causes of slips include wet or oily floors, spills, loose or unanchored mats, and flooring that lacks the same degree of traction in all areas, CCOHS states.

Trips happen when your foot strikes an object, causing you to lose your balance. Workers trip due to a variety of reasons, including clutter in walkways, poor lighting, uncovered cables, drawers being left open and wrinkled carpeting or rugs.

To help prevent slips and trips, CCOHS recommends the following:

• Clean up spills immediately. If a spill can’t be cleaned up right away, place “wet floor” warning signs for workers.
• Keeps walkways and hallways free of debris, clutter and obstacles.
• Keep filing cabinets and desk drawers shut when not in use.
• Cover cables or cords in walkways.
• Replace burnt-out light bulbs promptly.
• Consider installing abrasive floor mats or replacing worn flooring.
• Encourage workers to wear comfortable, properly fitted shoes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that falls can happen in all occupational settings, and “circumstances associated with fall incidents in the work environment frequently involve slippery, cluttered or unstable walking/working surfaces; unprotected edges; floor holes and wall openings; unsafely positioned ladders; and misused fall protection.”

To reduce the risk of falling at work, CCOHS recommends paying attention to your surroundings and walking at a pace that’s suitable for the surface you’re on and the task you’re performing. Additionally, walk with your feet pointed slightly outward, make wide turns when walking around corners and use the handrails on stairs.

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Slips, trips and falls

Each year slips, trips and falls cause thousands of preventable injuries.

• Safety by topic

The most common ones are: 

• musculoskeletal injuries (injuries to muscles, nerves, tendons, joints, cartilage and spinal discs)
• dislocations. 

More serious injuries and deaths can also happen. 

Slip, trip and fall hazards 

Some things that can cause you to slip are: 

• the wrong footwear 
• polished, wet or greasy floors. 

In most cases, people trip on low obstacles that are hard to spot, such as: 

• uneven edges in flooring 
• loose mats 
• open drawers 
• untidy tools, or 
• electrical cables. 

Falls can result from a slip or trip, but many occur from low heights. For example: 

• ditches, or 
• wet or slippery surfaces. 

WHS duties  

As a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), you must always aim to eliminate the risk of slips, trips and falls, so far as is reasonably practicable. If that is not possible, you must minimise risks so far as is reasonably practicable. 

You must identify hazards, and assess and control risks. Think about your: 

• work areas 
• work procedures 
• equipment.  

Consulting with workers can help you find better and easier ways to identify and minimise risks. You should also review control measures to ensure they are working as planned.  

Workers also have duties, including taking reasonable care for their own health and safety. 

Managing risks  

The best way to manage the risk of slips, trips and falls is to eliminate hazards at the design stage of the workplace.  

If you can’t eliminate the risk, you must minimise it so far as is reasonably practicable. 

Designing safe workplaces 

In designing floors, stairs, lighting, drainage and storage: 

• keep floors at a single level and use slip-resistant floor coverings 
• install extra power points to avoid trip hazards from trailing cords 
• ensure all areas are well lit, particularly stairwells 
• have good drainage and slip resistant grates 
• have lots of storage, so things aren’t left in walkways. 

Safe work procedures 

Work procedures can also impact on the incidence of slips, trips and falls. Have clear procedures to: 

• remove rubbish to avoid trip hazards 
• return tools and other items to their storage areas after use 
• report and clean spills 

Keep the workplace clean 

All workers share responsibility for keeping the workplace clean and tidy.  

Make sure you: 

• have adequate rubbish and recycling bins 
• have cleaning schedules in place 
• dry floors after cleaning 
• don’t have cords on walkway or work area floors. 

Training helps workers become more aware of slip and trip hazards and helps to prevent injuries.  

Training should include:  

• awareness of slip and trip hazards 
• identifying effective control measures 
• duties of workers. 

Using personal protective equipment (PPE) 

As a PCBU, you should only use PPE: 

• after you have implemented all other possible control measures. 
• as an interim measure until you can use a better control measure 
• as a backup in addition to other control measures. 

Slip-resistant footwear 

Slip-resistant footwear is a type of PPE. 

Slip-resistant footwear should be appropriate for the work and workers must wear it properly. 

In wet conditions, the shoe sole tread should: 

• be deep enough to help penetrate the surface water 
• make direct contact with the floor. 

In dry conditions, the shoe sole tread: 

• pattern should be a flat bottom construction 
• should grip the floor with maximum contact area. 

Types of slip-resistant footwear 

Urethane and rubber soles are more slip resistant than vinyl and leather soles.  

Sole materials that have tiny cell like features are slip resistant. 

Supporting information

• Model Code of Practice: How to manage work health and safety risks  
• Model Code of Practice: Managing the work environment and facilities 
• Slips and trips at the workplace fact sheet  
• The interactive safe work method statement (SWMS) tool provides information on preparing, using and reviewing SWMS for high risk construction work.

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Best Practices to Prevent Slips and Trips in the Workplace

Slip and trip injuries are some of the most common injuries employees experience on the job. These injuries are preventable. There are many safety best practices that can be implemented to reduce the risk of these injuries.

Slip and Trip Injury Statistics

As stated above, slip and trip injuries are extremely common in the workplace. It is difficult to find slip and trip injury fatal injury statistics without including falls in the data as well. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that there were 805 fatal work injuries due to slips, trips, and falls in 2020. There were 30,160 non-fatal injuries due to slips and trips that required days away from work in 2020.

These numbers do not include the injuries that an employee had to get medical care for but did not miss work. It is safe to say that there are most likely hundreds of thousands of slips and trips occurring every single year.

10 Ways to Prevent Slips and Trips in the Workplace

There are many different ways slips and trips can be prevented in the workplace. These injuries can be difficult to prevent due to the sheer amount of exposure that is present due to employees walking around the workplace all day, but it is not impossible.

Browse the ten safety best practices provided below. Some of the ideas will be more applicable to your workplace than others. A combination of safeguards is the most effective way to prevent workplace injuries when completely eliminating a hazard is not possible.

Ensure Mats and Rugs Are Secure

Employees can slip or trip due to loose mats or rugs. It is vital that mats and rugs are secured to the floor. They should not move when someone steps on them. The edges should be secured so that they do not come up, which can result in an employee tripping over the mat or rug. This commonly occurs when opening doors causes the edge of the mat or rug to pull up.

Barricade Unsafe Areas

Many workplaces are extremely large and house a variety of work processes. There are many areas where pedestrians need to be, and there may be various areas where employees should not enter. Barricades are an example of an engineering control, which is one of the most effective safeguards that can be implemented. By barricading hazardous work areas, slips and trips are effectively eliminated since employees are no longer exposed to walking through the area.

Examples of areas that should be barricaded include areas with moving equipment, storage areas for materials that are not picked by hand, areas that are consistently wet, etc.

Clearly Mark Paths of Travel

For areas where employees are allowed to enter and walk through, marking paths of travel is a best practice. By clearly marking the paths of travel, employees know where they should and should not walk. These paths also communicate to equipment operators where pedestrians may be, as well as communicate that objects or materials should not be stored in these areas.

Organize Work Areas

Poor organization of work areas is one of the leading causes of trip injuries in the workplace. When the organization of a facility is poor, there is an increased risk of employees to trip over something. All tools, supplies, materials, and other objects should be neatly stored away from walking paths. Employees should understand where everything is kept in a workplace.

Practice Good Housekeeping

Good housekeeping is closely related to ensuring work areas are organized. Once the proper organization of a work area is set up, efforts need to be directed at maintaining the areas through proper housekeeping. Employees need to understand that everything needs to be put back into its place after use and that there should be nothing placed on the ground if it is not meant to be there. Holding employees accountable for the cleanliness of their work areas is vital to ensuring the workplace is well-maintained.

Keep Floors Dry

Keeping floors dry is part of the housekeeping process. For some workplaces, doing so can be difficult. Work processes can create slippery floors. Also, workplaces that are exposed to the weather may be frequently wet, resulting in slick surfaces. Any moisture or spills should be immediately marked and cleaned up whenever possible if employees are required to walk through them.

Install Anti Slip Tape Where Needed

Installing anti-slip tape is a great way to reduce the risk of slips and falls. It is commonly applied on stairs to ensure sufficient traction of employees’ shoes and the surface of the stairs. This tape can also be applied near entryways, where moisture may be present, or other work areas that tend to get slick.

Improve Lighting

Poor lighting contributes to many slips and trips in the workplace. When employees are not able to see where they are walking, they may not see changes in elevation, objects on the ground, or slick surfaces. All work areas where employees are required to enter or walk through should be adequately lit so that they can make it where they need to go safely. Any broken lights should be immediately replaced.

Ensure Employees Can Clean Footwear When Needed

For workplaces where employees must walk outdoors and indoors, they should be provided a way to clean their shoes and boots. It is common that there are mats present in entry doors at most workplaces, but additional safeguards may be needed. Mats should be placed at any entry and exit door so employees can wipe their footwear off when coming into the facility.

Additionally, water hoses, hand brushes, or boot brushes may be needed for workplaces where employees are walking through mud or other sticky substances and then coming indoors. Mats will not suffice to get these employees’ footwear clean.

Require Slip-Resistant Footwear in the Workplace

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is the last line of defense for preventing injuries. Slip-resistant footwear is an example of personal protective equipment that can be utilized to reduce the risk of slips in the workplace. NIOSH completed a study of 17,000 food services workers from 226 school districts across the United States, and it found that using 5-star rated slip-resistant shoes significantly reduced workers’ compensation claims for slip injuries.

The ASTM F2913 testing standard is most commonly referred to for measuring the slip resistance of footwear in action.

Slip and trip injuries can be difficult to prevent. After all, employees spend a lot of the work day walking around the workplace. By following the safety best practices mentioned in this post as well as other ones, these injuries can be prevented. Employees need to be trained on these safe work practices and held accountable for following these practices. Consistency in implementing and maintaining safeguards is vital for preventing any type of workplace injury.

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