To help employers reduce and ultimately eliminate slips, trips and falls in workplaces, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) are making available a combined publication that includes slip, trip, and fall prevention standards, as well as technical reports from their catalogues, according to information posed on the ASSE Web site.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), floors, walkways, and ground surfaces were the source of injury and illness for 18 percent of all days away from work cases in 2006. Also, in 2006, 770 workers died due to falls, a five percent increase since 2005. Slip, trip and loss of balance injuries without falls accounted for 35,440 non-fatal injuries and falls on the same level accounted for 151,750 non-fatal injuries in 2006, the ASSE information stated.
The publication includes topics on safety requirements for workplace/walking/working surfaces and their access; workplace floor, wall, and roof openings; stair and guardrail systems; slip resistance on walking/working surfaces; composing walkway surface evaluation and incident report forms for slips, stumbles, trips, and falls; and ranking footwear bottom materials on contaminated walkway surfaces according to slip resistance test results.
The publication can be ordered online from the Web site or more information is available by calling ASSE at (847)699-2929.