Why is prevention of slips, trips and falls important?
In Canada some sixty thousand workers get injured annually due to fall accidents. This number represents about fifteen percent of the “time-loss injuries” that were accepted by workers’ compensation boards or commissions across Canada. Not mentioning a great economical loss, it amounts for a lot of pain and suffering and sometimes (much too often) even death. All these, in most of cases, do not have to happen. What is needed is: • understanding how fall accidents happen, • identifying the trouble areas, and • eliminating or minimizing hazards of falling. How do falls happen? Statistics show that the majority (60 percent) of falls happen on the same level resulting from slips and trips. The remaining 40 percent are falls from a height. This document will summarize information on “falls on the same level” (slips and trips). Falls from an elevation, such as falls from ladders, roofs, down stairs or from jumping to a lower level, etc., will discussed in another document since each type of
