Georgia employers may be interested in learning about the different ways that the risk of slip and fall incidents at the workplace can be reduced. According to published data, unsafe walking surfaces account for over 50 percent of the trips, slips and falls that occur at the workplace. The injuries typically happen as a result of the job site floor not being level, dry or clean at the time of the incident.
Moreover, slip, trips and falls can happen anywhere at the workplace, and they are not isolated incidents. However, identifying and addressing the catalysts creating the preventable risks can be a most efficient approach to rectifying the problem with haste. Approximately 97 percent of the slips, trips and falls occurring on the job are attributable to insufficient lighting, poor training, and inadequate footwear. The National Floor Safety Institute found that only 3 percent of these claims were actually fraudulent.
Still, most of these incidents are caused by unsafe walking surfaces at work. Using a tribometer to perform a walkway audit at work can help management obtain an accurate friction coefficient of the floor to assess how unsafe the surface actually is, personal biases notwithstanding. The most commonplace issues discovered during walkway audits include wet and dry contaminants, uneven flooring and improper cleaning. Simple mistakes like using the wrong cleaner or the wrong water temperature may be enough to create a hazardous working environment for employees and invitees.
People who have been injured in a fall at their workplace or at another establishment may want to speak with an attorney who has experience in premises liability litigation. Legal counsel may be able to determine that the conditions that led to the fall were due to negligent maintenance by the property owner, and thus may recommend filing a lawsuit seeking compensation for the damages that have been sustained.