The Top 5 Reasons Why Your Company Needs A Winter Slip & Fall Program

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THE TOP 5 REASONS WHY YOUR COMPANY NEEDS A WINTER SLIP & FALL PREVENTION PROGRAM

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If your company has employees that must walk or work outdoors during the winter, you’re likely well aware of the risks of slips and falls ice and snow. Perhaps you’ve attempted to combat these accidents with ice cleats or traction aids but have been unsatisfied with the results. In order to see the most dramatic reductions in slips and falls on ice and snow, it takes more than just traction aids, it takes a slip and fall program.

A slip and fall program is a comprehensive approach to reducing and eliminating industrial slips and falls.

It starts with a detailed selection of traction aids specifically targeted to the varied job functions in your organization. It extends through to a company-wide communication campaign ensuring that your entire organization is on the same page. It involves product specific training ensuring that employees understand how to use traction aids, where to use them and how to care for them. And most importantly it involves a long term commitment to nurture the program year over year. Organizations that have instituted slip and fall programs with this thoroughness gain control over the seasonal risk of slips and falls.

Would a program be the key to conquering slips and falls for your organization? Read on to determine if this approach can help and to learn how Winter Walking can provide you with a turn-key solution to preventing workplace slips and falls.

#1 Exposure Industries such as utilities have crews that regularly work outdoors, not only despite the weather but often because of it. Downed wires and power outages during ice storms and blizzards will demand that these workers confront some of the slipperiest situations underfoot.

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If you have workers in this scenario the risks are obvious, but consider the office worker that must traverse a large parking lot on a particularly snowy and messy day. Walking to and from their car in these conditions also poses a risk.

Think about the range of job functions within your organization and the respective relationship of each function to walking or working outdoors. The fact is that every step that your employee takes outdoors during winter months exposes them to the risk of slipping and falling. A slip and fall program can aggressively mitigate this risk.

#2 Organization Size The difference between simply purchasing traction aids and instituting a comprehensive slip and fall program can largely be dictated by the size of the organization. In a smaller organization it is much easier to select a single traction device, hand it out and know that your workers are much better off than they were. If the device doesn’t work, your employees will let you know by telling you and subsequent product purchases can be modified. But if you work at a large organization with a multitude of job functions spread out over a larger geographic area, your job is much harder.

In order to effectively protect each employee you’ll need to review each job function and select one or more specific traction devices for each department. In the end, you may have a dozen or more items available in your system. You’ll

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need to make sure that every employee knows which items they can and cannot use, and how to use them properly. A comprehensive programmatic approach to reducing slips and falls is designed for exactly this type of scenario.

#3 Regulations According to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), “Slips, trips, and falls constitute the majority of general industry accidents. They cause 15% of all accidental deaths, and are second only to motor vehicles as a cause of fatalities.” In fact, OSHA regulations state their point pretty clearly: “Employers have the responsibility to provide a safe workplace.

Employers MUST provide their employees with a workplace that does not have serious hazards and follow all relevant OSHA safety and health standards.”

Now, slips and falls aren’t specifically regulated by OSHA, due to the countless variables they would have to consider – type of walking surface, type of slippery contaminant, slope of the surface, and even the gait of any given individual. While OSHA regulations may not be breathing down your neck when it comes specifically to slips and falls, responsible companies will not wait for a hazard to be regulated to take precautions.

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#4 Better Results, Guaranteed Because of the simple fact that ice cleats and traction aids increase traction on ice and snow, your employees will be safer in those conditions with them than without. But the difference between making ice cleats available and instituting a comprehensive winter slip and fall reduction program is night and day.

The combination of a well researched product offering, broad based corporate communications, thorough training and a year to year commitment to nurture the program typically results in a culture changing level of success. As opposed to just seeing your winter slips and falls reduced by some varied amount, a programmatic approach will ensure that the reduction is maximized.

Companies that merely make ice cleats and traction aids available are typically no more than moderately happy with those same products.

Companies that have instituted a comprehensive slip and fall reduction program tend to rave about the success. If your employees are at risk for slips and falls on ice and snow and you’re making ice cleats available, take steps to amp it up to a full program and it’s guaranteed that you will have far better results.

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#5 Repeatable Results, Guaranteed The most frustrating thing for a safety professional is to see the results of their efforts diminished over time. Because of the seasonal nature of slips and falls on ice and snow it’s not uncommon for companies to lose the thread of their efforts from year to year. Turnover in the safety department, turnover in operational positions and changes to supplier contracts are just some of the events that help to deteriorate an initiative from year to year.

A comprehensive slip and fall program overcomes these deficiencies. By instituting a program with thorough top to bottom communication throughout your organization you are ensuring long term continuity. With a slip and fall program each year will build on the previous and the success that you experience will be infinitely repeatable.

If you were thinking about purchasing ice cleats or traction aids this winter, or have in the past but have been less than thrilled with the results, it’s time to start thinking about a slip and fall program.

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