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Did you Know?

Slips, trips and falls on the same level exact a substantial toll in terms of death, personal injury and suffering, workers' compensation, loss in productivity and civil liability. In fact, the 2005 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index indicates that falls on the same level were the second leading cause of all workplace injuries in 2003, accounting for 13.7% of direct costs associated with such injuries, or more than $6.9 billion. Additionally, the National Safety Council (NSC) estimates that workers' compensation and medical costs associated with employee slip and fall accidents are approximately $70 billion per year. And Liberty Mutual cautions that the problem keeps growing with the costs associated with injuries that result from falls on the same level growing 10.4% between 2002 and 2003, a time when most other causes of workplace injuries experienced a substantial reduction in their rate of growth.

Loss of productivity is often an unfortunate side effect. On average, workers who are injured as a result of a slip and fall accident spend more days away from work (median: 8 days) than those who are injured as a result of other causes (median: 6 days). Most troubling, nearly 30% of same level falls result in more than 21 workdays lost. And the problem certainly goes beyond a loss of productivity. The National Safety Council reports that slips and falls are the leading cause of death in the workplace and the cause of more than 20% of all disabling injuries.

When considering workplace falls, most people immediately think of falls from a height, yet, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the majority of fall-related injuries (65%) occur as a result of falls from same level walking surfaces. And the problem is especially troublesome in specified industries. Of particular interest, the services, wholesale and retail trade industries together accounted for the greatest proportion of injuries that resulted from same level falls (over 60%), while the manufacturing sector alone accounted for 16% of injuries that resulted from same level falls.

Source: OSHA / ISSA Alliance Web Site