SLIPS, TRIPS & FALLS: MINIMISING WORKPLACE HAZARDS

Slips, trips, and falls frequently happen at workplaces worldwide. Employers worldwide encourage their staff to enroll in first aid courses to prevent such accidents. They do so for several reasons. For example:

  • Injury to staff members can prevent the growth of their business.
  • Injuries to an employee hamper the entire team’s productivity.
  • The morale of the whole staff goes down.
  • An injury to an employee could be expensive for the organization.
  • Some injuries result in the death of an employee.
  • Some injuries turn the lives of your employees and their families upside down.

Such injuries prove to be harmful to your business, injured employees, and their families. First aid helps prevent such a scenario at the workplace.

For these reasons, your employer takes steps or introduces policies to prevent workplace mishappenings.

Almost 60,000 workplace accident cases are reported every year in Canada. These cases are related to slips, trips, and falls.

Where Do Slips, Trips & Falls Related Workplace Mishaps Happen?

This is a million-dollar question. You deserve an answer to it for the following reasons:

  • If you are planning to get a job in such an industry.
  • If you are about to begin your entrepreneurial voyage in such an industry.

Professionals Working in the Following Industries Commonly Face Such Mishaps:

◆ Retail Stores -

Employees slip on wet floors. They trip while moving things from one place to another. They fall from high ladders or stairs.

◆ Shopping Malls -

Slippery floors, elevators and escalators, cluttered kiosks, cluttered displays, spills, leakage, or debris on food court floors are the leading causes of slips, trips, and falls in shopping malls.

◆ Restaurants -

The one who serves you food in restaurants is also a human being. He or she can also slip, trip, or fall. In such a scenario, food or beverage spillage on the floor is bound to happen. Children or messy eaters, overcrowding, and poor restaurant design are also some reasons for such a workplace mishap.

◆ Hotels And Resorts -

Their staff also experiences much trouble. It happens because of messy eaters, water leakage, water accumulation, food and beverage spillage on floors, cluttered lobbies, debris in restaurant areas, uncontrolled elevators, and slick floors.

◆ Amusement Parks -

Excessive crowds, food and beverage spillage on the floor, and slippery pool edges are the reasons for slips, trips, and falls. They are the reason why professionals working in amusement parks slip, trip, and fall.

◆ Construction Sites -

How can we forget construction sites while talking about accidents of any type? The world of construction reports millions of accidents every year. Most of these accidents impact construction workers. They get injured due to slips, trips, or falls because of wet soil, water leakage, slippery soil/cement, unattended ropes, wires, holes, broken ladders, out-of-order JCB machines, and several more reasons. 

Parking lots, garages, staircase manufacturing units, sidewalks and walkway developers, automobile spare part manufacturing units, and construction sites report many such accidents yearly. For this reason, professionals associated with these industries need first aid the most.

Poor lighting, blind spots, wrinkled carpeting, leaning over guardrails, working on heights without full protection, and obstructed views are some more reasons for such accidents at the workplace. 

Again, such accidents prove too dangerous for the victims and their families. But the business of their employers also suffers significantly.

Most employers nowadays focus on employee safety for this reason.

How Do Employers Ensure Employee Safety At Workplace?

This is another million-dollar question. The modern generation of employers constantly and consistently encourages their employees to earn Red Cross Certifications to ensure employee safety at the workplace.

These courses equip the workforce with the skills, knowledge, experience, and confidence they need to save a life under critical circumstances.

Let us tell you about the skills, experience, and knowledge your staff gains through these Red Cross certifications. We will talk about it one by one.

There are various types of certifications. You can encourage your staff members to enrol in these courses. For example:

Standard First Aid Blended (Levels A or C):

This continuous course is a great option for those who want to learn CPR skills due to professional requirements. The course fulfills the following guidelines:

  • Legislation requirements for provincial/territorial worker safety and insurance boards.
  • Latest first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation guidelines.

Your employees learn the following through offline and online instructor-led sessions conducted during the course:

  • The Red Cross.
  • The preparation process to respond to sudden medical emergencies.
  • The Emergency Medical System.
  • The art of checking the patient.
  • The process of calling an ambulance or medical help for immediate further treatment.
  • All processes and protocols related to wound care, patient care, and medical care.
  • Steps to deal with Airway, breathing, circulation, and sudden medical emergencies.
  • The art of dealing with environmental illnesses and injuries related to bone, muscle, and joints.
  • You learn about different types of poisons.
  • The process of providing first aid for respiratory issues and cardiac arrest.

Encourage your staff members to earn Standard First Aid Blended (Levels A or C) certification to make a safe workplace environment. 

Emergency First Aid Blended (Levels A or C):

The quality of knowledge, experience, and skills gained through this certification can also help prevent slips, trips, and falls at the workplace. It fulfills all the requirements that the Red Cross certification highlighted above fulfills.

Online and offline instructor-led classes of this course allow you to learn everything mentioned below:

  • The Red Cross.
  • The process of getting ready to respond to sudden medical emergencies.
  • The emergency medical system.
  • The process of checking the patient.
  • The process of calling the ambulance and medical help.
  • Protocols of wound care, patient care, and medical care.
  • Skills to deal with airway, breathing, and circulation emergencies.
  • Skills to ensure first aid for respiratory and cardiac arrest-related emergencies.

The most important thing Emergency First Aid Blended (Levels A or C) will teach you is the list of preventive measures you, your staff, and your organization can implement to prevent slips, trips, and falls at the workplace. It is because you are ready in advance for such things. 

CPR-AED Certification A Or C Blended:

Some people suffer cardiovascular attacks due to life-threatening slips, trips, and falls at the workplace. Problems like choking and stroke are also the reasons for such problematic happenings.

Encourage your employees to enroll in this Red Cross Certification to gain skills, experience, and knowledge related to the following through online and in-class instructor-led sessions:

  • The Red Cross.
  • Things to do to get ready to respond to sudden medical emergencies.
  • Skills to check the patient and call the ambulance to ensure proper medical care, wound care, and patient care.
  • Recovery position skills.
  • Stroke and choking prevention skills among adults, children, and babies.
  • The art of assisting with medications.
  • Skills needed to take care of angina and heart attack patients.
  • CPR and AED skills for adults, children, and babies.
  • Skills to prevent deadly bleeding.

The entire level A content is taught to the level C applicants also. CPR-AED Certification A Or C Blended holders know everything required to prevent strokes, choking, and cardiovascular problems that happen to victims after slips, trips, or falls at the workplace. Their contribution can help your business climb the success ladder easily.

Basic Life Support Certification:

Those who earn this Red Cross Certification are professionals with a duty to respond. They possess a wealth of confidence in CPR skills at the workplace. Full credit to the quality of knowledge and experience about the following skills this certification offers to professionals through online and in-class instructor-led sessions:

  • The art of glove removal.
  • They understand the process of rapid primary assessment.
  • They learn CPR-AED Certification A Or C Blended C-related skills in more detail.
  • Better understanding of airway obstruction, assisted Ventilation, and Basic Life Support related special considerations.
  • Hiring professionals holding this Red Cross certification is important to implement slip, trip, and fall preventive measures at the workplace.
  • Skills to ensure first aid for respiratory and cardiac arrest-related emergencies.

If something goes wrong, their wealth of skills, knowledge, and experience can help save the life of your staff member in such a situation. More importantly, they know dos and don’ts to help avoid dangerous slips, trips, and falls.

Food Handler Certificate Course:

Effective and safe food handling processes are equally important to

prevent slips, trips and falls at the workplace. Ineffective, poor, and safe food handling practices also result in workplace accidents.

Most workplace accidents usually happen because of improper, unsafe, and poor food handling practices followed by employers and employees.

Such mishaps usually happen at retail stores, shopping malls, restaurants, amusement parks, construction sites, parking lots, garages, staircase manufacturing units, sidewalks, and walkway developers, automobile spare part manufacturing units, and everywhere you can and cannot think.

It is because people eat food everywhere. As a result, things like food spillage, floor wetting, water spillage, water leakage, food debris, overcrowding, water accumulation, and waste food accumulation usually happen at these places.

For this reason, you must encourage your employees to earn this food handler certificate under all circumstances. Those who enroll in this course attend in-class and online instructor-led sessions to prevent slips, trips, falls, and injuries to their team members. Two things mentioned below help them ensure it:

  • The quality of knowledge they gain.
  • The quality of relevant skills they learn.

Listed below are the skills they gain through this food handler certificate course to ensure it:

  • Safe food-handling skills.
  • The art of housekeeping and sanitation.
  • Your knowledge about microbiology and the growth of microorganisms.
  • Your knowledge about HACCP.
  • Proper food storage skills and practices.

All in all, employees who complete their food safety course and earn the certification can also help prevent slips, trips, and falls at the workplace.

Tips To Prevent Slips, Trips And Falls At Workplace:

Add such an incredible feather to your corporate cap with a strategy. Yes! You are reading right! A fail-proof strategy is needed for it. It could be feasible if you take the following steps:

❖ Recognize, Evaluate and Control Hazards:

Identify situations and spots to prevent slips, trips, and falls in your office. Examine the situation and determine the nature of damage or injury possible to the victim. Finally, remove everything that you believe can result in slips, trips, and falls at your office. Do things that help control hazards related to slips, trips, and falls at the workplace.

❖ Encourage Focus On Situational Awareness:

This is extremely important. Ask everyone to pay attention to spills, obstacles, signage, weather, time of day, lighting quality, and other potential hazards. Ask your employees to take baby steps on slippery and wet floors.

❖ Encourage The Use of Proper Safety Kit:

Advise your employees to wear dress and footwear designed to help them enter special areas of the office or factory safely. Such a safe approach reduces the chances of slips, trips, and falls at the workplace significantly.

❖ Install Signage:

Install temporary signage during the following processes:

  • Spillage Cleaning.
  • Handrail repair.
  • Ripped carpet replacement.

Install permanent signage to prevent slips, trips, and falls at the workplace during the following situations:

  • Slippery surface.
  • Building repair process.
  • Wet soil nearby.
  • Construction process.
  • Demolition process.
  • Floor cleaning process.

The installation of signage helps prevent injuries to your staff. Your business also reaps the benefits of this precaution on the productivity, financial, growth, success, employee engagement, involvement, safety, retention, and satisfaction front.

Ensure Regular Risk Assessment:

Regular risk assessment must be an important part of your employee safety and well-being policy at your workplace. It will help you identify the hazards of slips, trips, and falls at the workplace.

Such an approach will help you avoid injuries like sprains, strains, fractures, broken bones, contusions, head injuries, cuts, lacerations, neck injuries, and back and spinal cord injuries to your employees.

Make standard first aid blended (levels A or C) certification holders in your organization a part of every risk assessment you carry out. They will help you prevent such mishaps in your office.

We suggest you include every Red Cross certification holder in your organization as an important part of this employee safety and well-being process.

It is because their wealth of knowledge, skills, and experience will help you handle workplace accidents and injuries smoothly if something goes wrong. They know the art of dealing with cardiac arrest, respiratory issues, choking, strokes, and other medical issues that happen to your employees because of slips, trips, and falls at the workplace.

❖ Pay Attention To Everything:

Attention to everything at the workplace is essential to ensure employee safety and well-being. For this reason, we suggest you ask your Red Cross certificaion holders to pay attention to the quality of lighting, housekeeping, spillage cleaning, floor, implementation of safety plans and protocols, and the installation of all safety signs in your office. It will help you avoid slips, trips, and falls in your office.

These are the strategies and tips you can use to prevent slips, trips, and falls at workplaces. Value to the first aid certificate holders’ experience, skills, and knowledge will help you ensure employee safety and well-being at the workplace in the best possible way.

Let us know if you need any help in this process! Offer Red Cross and food safety certifications that help your employees learn things to prevent slips, trips, and falls at the workplace. What to do and what not to do is another thing our courses teach your employees if your staff member slips, trips, and falls at the workplace and gets injured.

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