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Health & Safety
Slips, Trips, Falls, and Material Handling
The Spring 2025 issue of Checkout covered the number one type of injury category: strains and sprains. The leading contributing factors for those injuries are slips, trips, falls, and material handling.
Soft tissue injuries like sprains and strains can have a serious impact on a worker's ability to perform job tasks and go about their daily lives. To reduce these types of injuries in the workplace, proactive prevention is key. Members should always bring concerns to their Joint Health & Safety Committee (JHSC) or Health & Safety Rep.
Slips, Trips, and Falls:
• Wet slippery floor surfaces, stairs, and ramps.
Solution: Clean up spills immediately and manage wet and icy areas before they become a hazard.
• Uneven floor surfaces, poor housekeeping, improper storage, unmoved pallets straps, plastic wraps, and other debris.
Solution: Have floors repaired and/or walking areas moved, ensure proper cleaning and storage habits, remove debris immediately.
• Blocked or congested aisles and pathways.
Solution: Ensure 2.5 - 3 feet of clear space on pathways, and remove any items/debris that interfere with having a clear walkway.
Manual material handling can result in musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), which are injuries affecting muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nerves. MSDs often stem from awkward postures and improper lifting techniques.
Material Handling:
• Lifting items that are too heavy or with improper technique.
Solution: Use proper lifting techniques, identify ways to reduce weight or awkwardness of items to be moved/lifted, use assistive devices.
• Increased workloads and material handling requirements.
Solution: Identify ways to make workloads less strenuous through better timing, shift or task rotations, lighter loads, and ergonomic workstations.
• Improper racking/storage, and decreased accessibility to items.
Solution: Improve racking and storage procedures, use step stools or other assistive devices to decrease need to reach for items.
• Repetitive motions, movements, and actions.
Solution: Identify ways to reduce repetitive tasks and address workstation design.
The JHSC/H&S Rep should ensure that thorough monthly inspections take place, that hazards are identified, and corrective actions put in place through recommendations.
From April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) is conducting a focused inspection campaign on material handling at industrial workplaces.
