Slips, Trips & Falls

A slip or a trip doesn't sound dramatic. A foot catches a trailing cord or slides on a wet plank, a hand goes out to break the fall, and now there's a wrenched shoulder or a broken wrist. It's the most ordinary hazard on site and the one most often left to "watch your step."

The hazard

Two different things happen. You slip when a surface takes your traction — wet, icy, greasy, dusty. You trip when something catches your foot — a cord, a curb, an off-cut, uneven ground, a hole. A construction site supplies both all day: trailing leads, scattered material, mud, changing floor levels, and less light as autumn comes on.

Ontario is specific about the housekeeping side. Waste and debris have to be removed as often as needed to prevent a hazard, and at least once a day, and work areas and the routes to them have to be kept clear of obstructions and of snow, ice, or other slippery material at all times, with sand or similar where footing needs it. That's a continuing duty, not an end-of-week tidy.

What to do

• Work clean as you go, and clear it at least daily. The daily removal is the floor, not the target — if a pile is a hazard at ten in the morning, it goes at ten in the morning.
• Give the walking routes an owner. Someone inspects and re-treats the paths, stairs, ramps, and platforms as conditions change, and closes anything that can't be made safe yet.
• Get cords and hoses out of the walking route. Route them along the edge or overhead on supports rated for it, following the site plan — without creating a new overhead hazard, blocking an exit, or hanging a lead off something electrical.
• Check your tread. Smooth, worn soles slide on wet steel, wood, and mud. If the tread's gone, replace the boots before winter, not after the fall.
• Deal with slick surfaces: wipe up spills, grit what you can't dry, and test your footing on wet plank and steel before you commit your weight.
• Light the path. Areas where people work and the ways in and out have to be adequately lit, and that gets harder every week from here.
• Keep your hands free for balance and rails — hoist or bag tools rather than carrying an armful. Don't count on catching yourself; that's how wrists go.

Watch out for

• Carrying a load you can't see your feet over.
• The "I walk this way every day" autopilot — familiar routes are where people stop looking.
• Moving fast across a slick or cluttered surface to save a minute.
• A cord run across a walkway "just for this task" that's still there next week.

Talk it over

• Which paths on this site are cluttered or slick right now, and who's clearing them today?
• Where do cords and hoses cross a walking route, and how do we get them out of it properly?