Health and safety: Eradicate slip-ups

Adrian Davies of Simply Safe (UK) offers advice on reducing the risk of slips, trips and falls.

Pubs come in all shapes and sizes but most of the hazards associated with slips, trips and falls are common to all.

Carrying out a risk assessment and ensuring the workplace is safe is a legal duty. Although it is almost impossible to predict all the causes, you can significantly reduce their number and severity. To break it down into a manageable system you should tackle each class of hazard separately.

Slips​

Slips are usually caused either by floor surfaces that do not give enough traction or by poorly-selected footwear.

Liquid spills, discarded food and the wrong cleaning products all contribute. It's not just the slip that causes injury but what you fall onto, or into. One kitchen worker slipped and plunged her arm into a deep fat fryer. It required numerous skin grafts and caused life-long scarring.

In another case a worker slipped and hit her head on a hard tiled floor. She fractured her skull, suffered seizures and spent a lengthy period in the hospital's high dependency unit. She will probably never work again. Her employer was prosecuted and ordered to pay more than £36,000. The district judge made the point that the accident was "wholly preventable", adding that "every employer has a duty under law to protect its employees from physical harm".

So here are some of the things you can do to prevent slips:

• Make sure each member of staff is made personally responsible for immediately clearing up any liquid spill or dropped foods
• Well-positioned absorbent mats reduce the potential for a slip and can be cleaned properly later
• When cleaning the floor, read the label on the product you are using to ensure the chemical is suitable. Cleaning products that leave a fine dust on smooth floors can cause serious injuries
• Smooth soles on footwear and high heels should be avoided
• Outdoors, ice causes serious accidents during wintertime, so have a supply of grit available
• Use floor coverings that can be easily cleaned and give enough traction. Kitchens, washrooms, toilets and bar areas should have non-slip coverings. Where there is an increased risk of slips, safety matting should be laid. Carpet public areas with a high-quality, flame-resistant carpet and place absorbent mats inside entrances to reduce the amount of water walked in
• External patios must be kept free of algae (jet washing does the trick) and paths and car parks should be gritted when temperatures fall below zero
• Avoid placing rugs on shiny surfaces such as laminate or
  polished floors - unless you are a good snowboarder
• Putting out a "slippery floor" sign highlights any risk - but remember that not everybody can read English.

Trips​

Trips can be caused by any phyical barrier to movement - almost everyone at some time has tripped over something as small as their shoelaces. Some time ago I was involved in a case where an elderly member of the public tripped on a ripped carpet and fell into an open fire sustaining serious burns.

It's not just uneven surfaces that are a hazard but the way the workplace is organised - the arrangement of furniture, placement of stock, trailing cables and poor lighting around stairs.

And remember, too, that the Disability Discrimination Act sets out obligations on you to not discriminate against phyically and mentally impaired customers including blind and partially-sighted people. You must identify hazards with them in mind:

• Corridors and gangways should be kept clear at all times. Take into consideration the possibility that staff may be carrying trays that will obscure their vision
• When arranging the lighting think about whether shadows are going to obscure potential trip hazards
• Regularly inspect outside the pub for uneven surfaces, broken paving stones and defective or sunken drains and carry out the same inspection at night to see if poor light heightens the risk of the hazard and possible injury. Take action on problems you find as soon as possible.

Falls​

Most falls are an outcome of slips and trips but there are other causes that are common in the pub business:

• Is your furniture capable of taking the weight of an obese customer? Most furniture in sound condition can support 16 stone. Inspect your furniture regularly, remove defective furniture
• Ensure barriers and rails in split-level venues are capable of taking the weight of a person leaning on them or falling against them
• Check that toilet seats are properly secured - elderly customers tend to push off the seats due to lack of strength in the knees and legs and a fall of that nature can be extremely embarrassing
• Fit stairs with protective noseings to highlight edges and prevent carpeted stairs from becoming a ski ramp for people with shiny-bottomed shoes
• Be careful when selecting contractors to work on your pub. Even having a local handy man to clean out your gutters from a ladder could end you up court if they have an accident. If they are working at height make sure they use the proper equipment for the job.
• If you have a play area insist that children are supervised by a responsible parent or guardian. Keep the grass short so broken glass can be easily identified and provide a soft landing under slides and climbing frames.

Simply Safe specialises in risk assessments for pubs, clubs and restaurants. If you need help call 07789 657595.

Your management systems​

• Plan:​ work with your employees to identify potential problem areas and set goals for improvement
• Train:​ give your employees the knowledge to identify and take action over potential risks
• Organise:​ make employees, including cleaning and contract staff, responsible for specific areas
• Control:​ ensure working practices and processes are being carried out properly and keep a record of all cleaning and maintenance work
• Monitor and review:​ talk to your employees so they can tell you how measures are working.

Risk assessments​

• Look out for hazards like poor lighting, uneven floors and trailing cables
• Decide who might be harmed and how, especially think about older or disabled people
• Consider the risks, note potential problems and do something about them
• Record your findings
• Regularly review the assessment.