Fall Protection Training: Now’s the Time to Prepare Your Team
Slip, trip and fall hazards are everywhere. Now is the time to prepare your team.
- By Gen Handley
- Dec 01, 2022
Every winter, no matter what the industry is or how the work conditions are, slips, trips and falls consistently remains the top cause of workplace injuries and accidents.
These are injuries and accidents that not only impact the team member’s physical and emotional health but require valuable time off and may even involve costly litigation and fines.
It is imperative that the employer has protocols and measures in place to react to dangerous falls promptly and efficiently so that the severity of injuries is as low as possible. While such reactive safety measures are important to any successful safety program, proactive safety measures are even more integral, helping prevent incidents, like slips and falls, from occurring entirely. One of the most impactful, proactive OHS steps an employer can take is to regularly and thoroughly train their people in fall prevention and fall protection.
What Causes Slips and Trips?
Slip and trips hazards can exist everywhere—in some places you would not expect them. When assessing the workplace for slip hazards, look for conditions such as unattached, loose rugs and mats, uneven walking surfaces and work areas and slippery surfaces (wet and oily) due to weather or spills. On the other hand, potential areas for trips can be identified in places where your foot hits an object, resulting in the employee tripping and possibly falling.
Before these hazards cause any harm, they must be identified, documented and mitigated if possible. This can be accomplished through consultation with employees as well as regular and thorough hazard assessments of existing OHS dangers and risks.
What Types of Fall Protection Training Should You Provide?
When training your employees in fall prevention, you will need to do so based on three categories:
- General safety
- Site-specific safety (applicable to specific sites with particular safety challenges)
- Job-specific safety
General Safety Training. General safety training is applicable to all work sites and work circumstances, teaching practices that will prevent slips, trips and falls in any of your work environments. This can include education around standardized signage warning employees of possible tripping hazards when it gets icy or establishing a system to reduce clutter in high-traffic areas where people may trip and fall.
This article originally appeared in the December 1, 2022 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.