Safety issues - Slips and trips

Slipping and tripping in the workplace was the cause of 19% of injuries reported under RIDDOR in plastic manufacturing companies. Slips and trips cost UK employers approximately £512 million per year in lost production and other costs.

Many slips occurred as a result of flooring contamination eg by water, fluids, waste plastic film or spilled plastic granules. Most trips were due to poor housekeeping.

Where slips and trips are a risk in your workplace, the law asks you to assess the risks and put in place controls. The solutions are often simple and cost effective, a suitable assessment will help you to work out the right mix of solutions to suit your workplace. The solutions should include (in no particular order):

The biggest barriers to putting the problems right include:

But simple cost effective measures can reduce these accidents!  For more information on slips and trips in the workplace and for materials from the "shattered lives" campaign please visit the slips and trips pages.

Updated 2023-05-02