Slips, trips, and falls exact a substantial toll in terms of death, personal injury and suffering, workers’ compensation, loss in productivity, and civil liability. In fact, the 2007 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index indicates that falls were the second leading cause of all workplace injuries in 2005, accounting for 13.6 percent of direct costs associated with such injuries, or more than US$6.6 billion. Additionally, the National Safety Council (NSC) estimates that workers’ compensation and medical costs associated with employee slip-and-fall accidents are approximately $70 billion per year. On average, workers who are injured as a result of a slip and fall accident spend more days away from work than those who are injured as a result of other causes.

When considering workplace falls, most people immediately think of falls from a height, yet, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the majority of fall-related injuries (65 percent) occur as a result of falls from same-level walking surfaces. This week we are going to take a look at Slips, Trips and Falls, what to look out for and some of the causes of these types of events.

Let’s Get Focused

When I think about what safety means to me, I think about my family. I think about what our lives would be like if I came home injured and the impact to their lives if I didn’t make it home at all.

I have a unique perspective on safety as I also see the aftermath of what happens when someone has an injury. My direct involvement has fostered a deep appreciation for all the things I know could be different if I didn’t put safety as my greatest core value. The sun setting at the end of each day or a beautiful night sky, but even more simply being able to sit down and watch TV with my family. I appreciate having my hands and feet in proper working order, being able to feed and dress myself, taking the dog out for a walk, and even cooking dinner or working on the endless list of “to do’s”.

If we lose focus on safety, all of what we appreciate in life can be taken away. I have seen the effects a piece of metal or debris in a person’s eye can have on them, how stitches in a hand or a broken arm affects a person’s ability to do even the simplest tasks. (Think about not even being able to sign your name.)

Working safely is the reason I can appreciate and enjoy everything I do outside of work. At the end of the day, safety is personal. What is your reason to work safely?

Lee-Anne MasonEH&S DirectorBHI Energy

Diversity Quote

“Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue; it makes it a requirement for survival.”

Rene Dubos

A "slip" occurs when there is too little traction or friction between the shoe and walking surface. Shown in the picture, the point of friction is where the sole meets the surface or floor. Any time something gets in the way of friction/traction such as on the surface or when our steps don’t provide enough friction, the loss results in a potential slip.

A "trip" occurs when a person’s foot contacts an object in their way or drops to a lower level unexpectedly, causing them to be thrown off-balance. A trip most often results in a person falling forward, while a slip most often results in the person falling backward. A "fall" occurs when you are too far off-balance.

There are many situations that may cause slips, trips, and falls, such as ice, wet spots, grease, polished floors, loose flooring or carpeting, uneven walking surfaces, clutter, electrical cords, open desk drawers and filing cabinets. Loose, irregular surfaces such as gravel, shifting floor tiles, and uneven sidewalks, can make it difficult to maintain your footing. Most slip, trip and fall incidents are preventable with general precautions and safety measures.

Wet or slippery surfaces are a major cause of slips. Highly polished floors such as marble or ceramic tile can be extremely slippery even when dry and definitely increases the potential for a slip when moisture is present. The following are some simple ways to reduce the potential of a slip or fall on wet or slippery floors:

• Use anti-skid adhesive tape in high traffic areas• Use absorbent mats in entrance ways during inclement

weather. Make sure that mats lie flat and that the backing material will not slide on the floor.

• Display wet floor signs when appropriate. Clean up spills and wet floors as soon as practical.

• Have a procedure to deal with spills and ensure spills are reported and cleaned up immediately.

• Use proper mats in areas that tend to be “spill prone”• When wet processes are used, maintain proper

drainage or use platform mats

In instances where you find it unavoidable to walk, work or move around on a slippery surface, the following are some precautions that can be taken to reduce the risk of a slip or fall: • Wear proper footwear for better traction on slippery

surfaces• Point your feet slightly outward, keeping your center of

balance under you• Take slow, small steps• Use your feet as probes to detect possible slip, trip and fall

hazards• Get your feet underneath your body quickly to maintain

your balance after an initial step• Use rails or other stable objects that you can hold onto• Protect the more vulnerable parts of you body like your

head, neck and spine if you do fall

Nearly half of all falls occur on stairs. Make sure that stairways have secure handrails and guardrails, even surfaces, even tread heights and are free of deteriorating coverings such as frayed carpet. To prevent an accident, awareness and prevention is key. Here are some simple ways to prevent a fall incident on stairways:

• Whether going up or down stairs, always use the handrail

• Make sure stairways are well lit, with on/off switches at the top and bottom

• Make sure stairways are clear of any obstacles• When carrying objects up and down steps, be sure you

are able to see where you are stepping and hold onto the handrail if possible

The chance of fall accidents in stairways increases with inattention, illness, fatigue and haste. Take care when ascending and descending stairways.

Proper housekeeping in work and walking areas can contribute to safety and the prevention of falls. Not only is it important to maintain a safe working environment and walking surface, these areas must also be kept free of obstacles which can cause slips and trips. Obstacles could include clutter, obstructions across hallways and material stacked or dumped in passageways, etc.

Avoid stringing cords or lines across hallways or in any walkway. If it is necessary to do so, it should be on a temporary basis (i.e., power cords, telephone lines, etc.) and, then the item should be taped down, run overhead or a ramp should run over any cords and hoses.

Regular frequent inspections of working and walking areas should be conducted to identify environmental and equipment hazards which could cause slips, trips and falls.

There have been lot’s of questions about accountability and what exactly it mean’s to be 200% Accountable. The simplest answer is the mathematical answer…...100% accountable for me or myself + 100% accountable for my co-workers or any working around me. When we add this together, we have 200% accountability. While it may be the simplest, the true meaning behind 200% accountability goes far beyond this. We need to understand what being accountable really looks like. When we are truly accountable, we take action and we don’t procrastinate or push responsibility off on others to deal with. Being accountable isn’t about whose job it is to do something, it isn’t about leaving it for someone else to find, or even hoping all will go well. Being accountable is seeing or observing, taking ownership, identifying ways to mitigate and solve issues, and proactively fixing what we originally observed.

Most people would say that they are accountable, at least for their own actions but is this always the case. I would bet it’s not. How many people have used or heard one of the following responses before: • “That’s not my job” or “That’s his job”, or “That’s not in my Job

Description”.• “It will be there when we get back”.• “Let’s hope for the best” or “I guess we will just see what happens”.• “It was their fault, I had nothing to do with that” If you have used or heard anything like this before then the person using these kinds of responses was being far less than accountable, in fact they were attempting to pass or avoid accountability rather than accept it. This behavior and attitude is not conducive to a Team environment.

So what does all of this have to do with Safety. Simple, Safety is everyone’s responsibility and everyone is going to be held accountable for Safety. Rather than accept ownership for only yourself, everyone needs to accept ownership for themselves and everyone else around them. If you see something happening that is unsafe, don’t take action to correct it, and the result is a near miss, accident or event—well then you have just as much accountability for the event as those directly involved. You failed to act, you didn’t consider others and their safety enough to help preserve it. Being Fully Conscious has everything to do with being Accountable. Our Behavior Based Safety model is linked to accountability. Understanding how each of our behaviors, thoughts, perceptions, and experiences play a role in the decisions that we make while we are at work each day—more importantly the UNSAFE decisions. Now we draw a line in the sand…we find ourselves on one side being 200% Accountable and on the other side are those behaviors and attitudes that will drag us back across the “Line of Accountability” and towards potential safety issues, concerns or accidents. It is up to each of us to accept ownership and accountability for Safety and stay above the “Line of Accountability”.

Event Summary/CAR 1751:

A Centerline Key (see photo) is part of the front standard of a turbine. While checking for tightness, a technician was tapping the Keeper Plate (see photo) with a hammer; it came loose and caused the Key to fall approximately 20’. The Key bounced off plant equipment and contacted a worker who received minor injuries.

The workers involved had been briefed on and planned to apply lanyards to prevent this event from occurring. Prior to the brief, two technicians proceeded to barricade the area below the work with yellow caution tape (tape should have been red, given the nature of the hazard). After the brief, the lead technician went to the tool crib to retrieve the necessary equipment to lanyard the Centerline Key and Keeper Plate. The technician who arrived first at the work location tapped on the Keeper Plate only to gauge the difficulty in removal, they did not anticipate it being loose.

Why is this significant?This key weighs approximately 5 lbs and is 4.5” x 6.5” x ¾”. While no one was seriously injured, the key did ricochet off a ladder, resulting in a glancing strike to a worker in the basement. This event could have easily caused serious injury to personnel along with major equipment damage.

How could this have been prevented?This task has been done repeatedly by an experienced worker and resulted in the following:• Complacent/Overconfidence- The technician always had difficulty removing these keys in the past while

performing and didn’t expect that it would fall out so easily. • Habit patterns – “This is the way we have always done it.”

Immediate Corrective Actions:• Each turbine team toured the areas affected by this event to understand the significance of the

dropped object.• A timeout occurred to stress the requirement that Red danger tape is to be used to create an exclusion

area when the potential exists for a dropped object.

What are the lessons learned?1. Plan your work and work your plan. Follow through on the actions to mitigate hazards, as discussed.2. Per site procedure, red barricade tape should have been used. Yellow tape requires entrants to only be aware of the hazard. Red tape restricts entry to the area, protecting workers. Do you know the requirements for your work today?