{"id":656,"date":"2013-01-16T21:02:43","date_gmt":"2013-01-16T21:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/?p=656"},"modified":"2014-07-01T17:47:39","modified_gmt":"2014-07-01T17:47:39","slug":"preventing-slips-trips-and-falls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/preventing-slips-trips-and-falls\/","title":{"rendered":"Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many factors contribute to slip, trips, and falls within a commercial facility.\u00a0 For the most part, the primary cause of these incidents is mostly attributed to the walking surfaces.\u00a0 According to governing bodies, a clean dry floor must have a coefficient of friction (COF) of 0.50.\u00a0 For areas used by people with disabilities, this number is higher with 0.6 for level surfaces and an even higher 0.8 for ramps.\u00a0 The coefficient of friction quantifies the necessary level of traction on walking surfaces for ergonomic and safety purposes.<\/p>\n

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 70 fatalities and over 15% of OSHA reported incidents are attributed to same-level falls each year.\u00a0 With over billions of dollars lost to medical bills and compensation, it is necessary for commercial facilities to promote a safe, clean, and dry floor to avoid injury and liability lawsuits resulting from accidents.<\/p>\n

Factors that can cause Slips, Trips, and Falls<\/h2>\n

There are many factors that determine the risk of incidence for slips, trips, and falls.\u00a0\u00a0 The type of shoes, a person\u2019s natural gait, their weight and body mass index, their general health and well-being, the floor\u2019s coefficient of friction all contribute in determining the probability of an accident occurring.<\/p>\n

Outside of maintenance and manufacturing, it is difficult for employers to enforce strict shoe policies.\u00a0 Shoe selection is predominantly a fashion choice, completely unmotivated by slip and fall hazard prevention.\u00a0 According to NSFI same-level fall statistics, women are more likely to slip, trip, and fall in the workplace, than their male counterparts.\u00a0 While these falls are non-fatal, it seems that they might stem from the female inclination to wear high heels in the work place.\u00a0 The statistics for male slip and fall accidents are skewed towards manufacturing and maintenance employees, in comparison to the population statistical spread for females, which also included office workers in its tally.<\/p>\n

Similar to shoe selection, the probability of slipping on floors are of a personal and difficult to monitor nature. Regardless of other factors, the liability for slip and fall accidents remain the responsibility of commercial facilities.\u00a0 Businesses need to prioritize to create a safe and clean environment by taking precautionary measures to reduce and hopefully eliminate the risks of slips, trips, and falls in their buildings.<\/p>\n

Avoiding slips, trips, and falls at entrances and exits<\/h2>\n

Even in dry weather, entrance ways contribute to slips and falls in buildings. \u00a0According to the U.S. Green Building Council, about 70 to 80 percent of the dirt inside a commercial facility is brought in by people entering.\u00a0 Further statistics shows that every pound of dirt that needs to be cleaned costs more $750. Moreover, as debris accumulates indoors, it makes entrances and other floors slippery, despite their dry appearance.<\/p>\n

During the winter season, rain and snow pose more traditional entrance and exit problems. Ceramic tile, vinyl, and hardwood floor are known to be very slick when wet. Even concrete and epoxy-coated surfaces, known to be textured for the purpose of traction, can be just as slick as the other more finished types of flooring.<\/p>\n

What can management do?<\/h2>\n

One way to promote safety in the work place is through selecting high traction flooring materials and applying anti-slip flooring treatments.\u00a0 In addition to these preventative methods, entrance mats<\/a> should be securely installed in all entryways to trap dirt and other contaminants before they enter the building because accumulation of moisture and debris can cause loss of walking surface traction by lowering the coefficient of friction drastically.<\/p>\n

Properly placed and secured floor mat<\/a>, fitted for the specific industry need of the facility, are highly effective in trapping dirt and debris.\u00a0 The Green Building Council advises that entrance mats must be at least 10-15 feet at all times.\u00a0 This length is considered sufficient enough to dry shoes in wet weather.\u00a0 During warmer seasons, entrance mats this size is long enough to trap over 90% of dirt from the outdoors. \u00a0\u00a0Rain or shine, entrance mats are effective in maintaining sanitation and safety of any building.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Resources for this report include:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bakken, Gary M., Cohen, H. Harvey, Abele, Jon R., Hyde, Alvin S., LaRue, Cindy A. Slips, Trips, Missteps and Their Consequences. Tucson, AZ: Lawyers and Judges Publishing Company, Inc., 2nd ed. 2002<\/p>\n

Fraley, Michael. Be Proactive In Slip and Fall Prevention<\/a>. Cleaning & Maintenance Management. September 19, 2010. Accessed December 13, 2012.<\/p>\n

Garner, Bryan A. Black\u2019s Law Dictionary. St. Paul, MN: Thomson\/ West, 8th ed. 2004.<\/p>\n

Grainger, W.W. 6 guidelines to prevent workplace slips, trips, and falls<\/a>. Reliable Plant. . Accessed December 17, 2012.<\/p>\n

Hamel, Karen. Six steps to help prevent slips and falls. The Bulletin, Vol. 77 Issue 3. May 2009<\/p>\n

WISQARSTM (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System) Centers for Disease Control and Preventions, National Center for Injury Prevention and Contro. URL: http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/injury\/wisqars\/index.html<\/p>\n

Fall Prevention Facts. American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. URL: http:\/\/orthoinfo.aaos.org\/topic.cfm?topic=A00101<\/p>\n

Fall accident prevention program. National Floor Safety Institute. Produced as part of the NFSI Best Practices Project, 2003.<\/p>\n

Kendzior, Russell J. Falls Aren\u2019t Funny. Government Institutes, The Scarecrow Press, Inc. 2010.<\/p>\n

New Techniques to Control Slips and Falls in Public Places. InControl\/SLIPS, TRIPS, & FALLS for the Real Estate Industry. Courtesy of the National Floor Safety Institute. 2011<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>

Many factors contribute to slip, trips, and falls within a commercial facility.\u00a0 For the most part, the primary cause of these incidents is mostly attributed to the walking surfaces.\u00a0 According to governing bodies, a clean dry floor must have a coefficient of friction (COF) of 0.50.\u00a0 For areas used by people with disabilities, this number […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[465],"tags":[415,5,471,804,468,365,132,342,37,470,466,467,469,460],"yoast_head":"\nPreventing Slips, Trips, and Falls<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Prevent slips, trips, and falls from costing your business. Identify major causes for accidents, and protect your employees and guests.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/preventing-slips-trips-and-falls\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prevent slips, trips, and falls from costing your business. Identify major causes for accidents, and protect your employees and guests.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/preventing-slips-trips-and-falls\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eagle Mat Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-16T21:02:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-01T17:47:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eagle Mat & Floor Products\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eagle Mat & Floor Products\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/preventing-slips-trips-and-falls\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/preventing-slips-trips-and-falls\/\",\"name\":\"Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-16T21:02:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-07-01T17:47:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3740ba6e69852940243e2ab35917123c\"},\"description\":\"Prevent slips, trips, and falls from costing your business. Identify major causes for accidents, and protect your employees and guests.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/preventing-slips-trips-and-falls\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/preventing-slips-trips-and-falls\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/preventing-slips-trips-and-falls\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Eagle Mat Blog\",\"description\":\"Powered by Eagle Mat | Step Forward\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3740ba6e69852940243e2ab35917123c\",\"name\":\"Eagle Mat & Floor Products\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20168d8f7c55179c8d6481134d629861?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20168d8f7c55179c8d6481134d629861?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Eagle Mat & Floor Products\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls","description":"Prevent slips, trips, and falls from costing your business. Identify major causes for accidents, and protect your employees and guests.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/preventing-slips-trips-and-falls\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls","og_description":"Prevent slips, trips, and falls from costing your business. Identify major causes for accidents, and protect your employees and guests.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/preventing-slips-trips-and-falls\/","og_site_name":"Eagle Mat Blog","article_published_time":"2013-01-16T21:02:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-07-01T17:47:39+00:00","author":"Eagle Mat & Floor Products","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Eagle Mat & Floor Products","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/preventing-slips-trips-and-falls\/","url":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/preventing-slips-trips-and-falls\/","name":"Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-01-16T21:02:43+00:00","dateModified":"2014-07-01T17:47:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3740ba6e69852940243e2ab35917123c"},"description":"Prevent slips, trips, and falls from costing your business. Identify major causes for accidents, and protect your employees and guests.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/preventing-slips-trips-and-falls\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/preventing-slips-trips-and-falls\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/preventing-slips-trips-and-falls\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/","name":"Eagle Mat Blog","description":"Powered by Eagle Mat | Step Forward","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3740ba6e69852940243e2ab35917123c","name":"Eagle Mat & Floor Products","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20168d8f7c55179c8d6481134d629861?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20168d8f7c55179c8d6481134d629861?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Eagle Mat & Floor Products"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaglemat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}