Don’t fall prey to autumn
Slips, trips and falls continue to be one of the highest injury categories for colleagues, particularly during the autumn and winter months, and the most likely cause of injuries resulting in absence from work.
This week, managers and safety representatives will be reviewing how our sites manage the risk of slips, trips and falls and ensuring that all relevant standards are in place to create a safe working environment, whether indoors or outdoors.
Outdoor slips, trips and falls account for a number of broken bones, bruising and musculoskeletal conditions each year, while poor housekeeping and congested work areas can present hazards when performing tasks indoors.
Hazards and risks will vary and change depending on the circumstances – particularly in outdoor locations when severe weather and conditions such as wet leaves or decking can increase the risk of accidents.
To ensure that units are adequately prepared to prevent slips, trips and falls this autumn an intranet page has been set up for managers with the following task list:
- Keep WRAP up to date and manage all hazards
- Ensure a process is in place to authorise footwear re-ordering when required
- Brief all SSOWs and ensure all training is completed when required
- Complete SMATs to encourage correct behaviours
- Check all colleagues have access to spikeys
- Complete and display the severe weather preparation checklist and complete a severe weather risk assessment as required
- Empower all colleagues to dynamically risk assess any situation and decide if it is safe or not to proceed.
Managers can click here to find our Look-Consider-Decide posters for Delivery and Collections only. Further materials can be found here.
