Slips, trips and falls

Slips, trips and falls are one of the most common causes of accidents in the workplace. So use our document to identify the hazards and appropriate control measures.

Workplace hazard

To prevent accidents of this type you should complete a risk assessment of your workplace, which identifies all “significant” hazards and appropriate “reasonable” ways of reducing risks to an acceptable level.

Managing the risks

To help you identify the hazards and appropriate ways of controlling them, use our example Risk Assessment - Slips, Trips and Falls. It covers the generic hazards found in most work environments that can lead to staff slipping, tripping or falling and suggests control measures to reduce risks to an acceptable level.

You should ensure that your document only addresses “significant” hazards, i.e. any that could, and more importantly are likely to, cause an accident or injury.

Keep it to the point

There is no point in including activities that simply don’t need to be there.  Work to the principle that if there is any chance of your staff being unaware of the safe way of keeping your workplace safe and preventing slips, trips and falls, then you will need to make it clear on your document. Finally, always ensure any control measures you identify and follow only go so far “as is reasonably practicable”.  

Note. The list of potential hazards is not exhaustive because you know your workplace better than we do. However, for your risk assessment to be considered suitable and sufficient in the eyes of the law it must accurately reflect the “significant” hazards found in your workplace.