January 2020 Businesses of all sizes have a legal responsibility to protect the health and safety of their staff, partners and clients. However, with factors such as flooring, footwear, heavy rainfall and human behaviours (including rushing and/or not paying close attention) increasing the risk of slips and trips, how can you help to keep your business protected? As an employer, the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 sets out your legal obligations to ensure the health and safety of your employees and anyone who may come into contact with your premises such as customers or suppliers. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires you to actively assess risks (including slips and trips), taking action to address these risks where required. Additionally, the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 requires flooring to be suitable for its purpose, in good condition and free from obstructions - effectively, people should be able to move around safely. Yet, to this day, slips and trips remain the most common cause of injury at work and they are also the most reported injury to members of the public. To help you to reduce the risk of slips and trips, there are a number of simple and cost-effective steps that you can take. To help businesses to proactively reduce their risk, the HSE has developed a free online learning tool called the 'Slips and Trips eLearning Package'. Providing an overview of the cause and prevention of slips and trips, this tool covers the topic from introductory through to an advanced level - you can access this resource here: https://www.hse.gov.uk/slips/step/start.htm It is vital to remember that any initiatives put in place such as a real-time record of all actual and near-miss slips and trips will only be effective if they are sustainable and embedded within your organisation as ‘business as usual’. By regularly reviewing, actioning and updating slip and trip reduction strategies, you will be able to evidence the measures that you have taken to reduce the risk, both now and in the future. For a risk assessment to be most impactful, we would recommend that it is done in tandem with your employees as they will have a deeper insight into the daily hazards and risks that could result in slips and trips. It’s important to remember that this process will need to be readdressed on a regular basis to accomodate for potential changes in your workplace such as its layout and the number of people accessing the premises on a day-to-day basis. Your employees’ actions will also play a huge role in the prevention of slips and trips - by embedding solid procedures within your company such as reporting accidents or near misses, keeping the workplace tidy, highlighting potentially unsafe working spaces, actioning the swift cleanup of spillages or removing trip hazards, you can help to reduce the likelihood of slips and trips. If you would like to find out more about how we can help you to ensure that your business is comprehensively protected, please get in touch with us here: https://www.turnerrawlinson.co.uk/contact and a member of our team will be in touch with you promptly. Source: https://www.hse.gov.uk/slips/
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