SLIPS, TRIPS & FALLS


ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN... BUT MOST ARE AVOIDABLE


The British Cleaning Council’s Lee Baker talks trips, slips and fall, and offers advice on how those in all sectors can ensure safety is always kept at the top of the agenda.


Slips, trips and falls are the most common cause of specified injuries in workplaces. Broken bones account for over 90% of injuries and the annual cost to industry each year has been put at over £500million, with 1.3 million working days lost annually.


The human misery caused by these types of accidents, is incalculable, and so it is in everybody’s interests to make working environments as safe as possible.


Statistics show that floor cleaning is a significant risk in causing slip and trip accidents and so the British Cleaning Council takes a particular interest in initiatives and ideas that can make this task safer.


The Health and Safety Executive has produced an informative fact sheet dealing with the prevention of slips and trips and this should be the first port of call for anyone looking for up to date safety advice.


These types of accidents can happen in a second. It takes just one quick slip on a wet or greasy floor, or a trip on uneven flooring and a business could be landed with an extremely expensive lawsuit. But equally, a cleaning operative or member of the public could be left with a life changing injury.


IT’S SIMPLE REALLY... The frustrating thing for those trying to protect us from slips, trips or falls, is that, there are a number of guidelines that, if followed correctly, could cut the risks substantially.


Cleanliness and hygiene are of course central to all cleaning regimes, but so too is safety, and so establishing the correct mindset towards health and safety is hugely important. A half-hearted approach will leave everyone; the contractor, the building owner, the cleaning operative and the public at risk.


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It is essential that a thorough and workable management system is in place to minimise hazards. Once risk assessments have been carried out, the plan has to be communicated down the chain, so that all involved know about the potential problems.


FRONTLINE EXPERTS Floors have many hazards that can change depending on the weather. In the autumn and winter, fallen leaves, rain, sleet and snow can be walked in, to mix alongside regular grease and dirt.


Understanding how the floor behaves is an important part of managing risk correctly, and so having a trained workforce can help mitigate the dangers.


The correct cleaning regime has to be chosen for the particular flooring and the right product needs to be used for whatever contaminant is on the floor. When a floor becomes hazardous, it’s vital the cleaning operative designated with that area, recognises the danger and moves quickly to neutralise the problem.


Having trained cleaning operatives working on the front line where these types of issues occur daily is important when trying to minimise risk.


BICSc - British Institute of Cleaning Science - who has been running industry standard courses for cleaning operatives for over half a century put a huge emphasis on safety. Their entry level certificate, the ‘Licence to Practice’, teaches chemical competence and safe storage of material and equipment, and makes operatives aware of their duty of care to themselves, members of the public and the building they’re working in.


This puts safety right at the heart of their training and so is in their mind whilst they are cleaning. The BCC


“SLIPS, TRIPS AND FALLS ARE THE MOST


COMMON CAUSE OF SPECIFIED INJURIES IN WORKPLACES. BROKEN BONES


ACCOUNT FOR OVER 90% OF INJURIES AND THE ANNUAL


COST TO INDUSTRY EACH YEAR HAS


BEEN PUT AT OVER £500MILLION.”


believes cleaning operatives need to be trained to the highest standards, both to do the job well, but also to keep themselves and others as safe as possible. Training also yields other benefits, such as improving staff retention, and increasing productivity.


Having trained staff can also be useful when cleaning operatives have to work during the daytime when the building is being used. The potential for slips, trips and falls is high during these periods, and that is why building owners and FM managers needed to be persuaded that cleaning at peak times could be done safely.


There were concerns, for instance, about people slipping on wet floors, tripping over electric cables, or breathing in toxic chemicals.


NEVER FEAR THE BCC IS HERE! But the cleaning industry has shown on a number of occasions it can come


www.tomorrowshs.com


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