Page 64 - Occupational Health & Safety, July 2018
P. 64
SLIP & FALL
Preventative Maintenance Tasks that HelpPreventSlips,Trips,andFalls
Most of these preventative maintenance techniques can be rolled into routine good housekeeping plans. Others can be incorporated into regular and periodic safety inspections.
BY KAREN D. HAMEL
58 Occupational Health & Safety | JULY 2018
www.ohsonline.com
Scheduling fluid changes, routinely replac- ing hoses and pipes to prevent failure, and regularly checking monitors and gauges are just a few of the preventative maintenance tasks that are consistently performed at many facili- ties to help prevent essential equipment from break- ing down. Each facility has its own strategy for how and why preventative maintenance functions are un- dertaken, but one of the main reasons for preventive maintenance is simple: to avoid unplanned downtime and keep things running smoothly and safely.
Preventative maintenance schedules also can be applied to procedures that help prevent slip, trip, and fall injuries. Just as unexpected downtime caused by a broken machine disrupts production schedules, unexpected slip, trip, and fall hazards cause lost worktime injuries that impact facility operations. Establishing preventative maintenance
schedules to routinely identify and eliminate walk- ing-working surface hazards will help prevent this very common cause of employee injuries and their associated costs.
Stroll Through Parking Lots
Freeze-thaw cycles, traffic, and tree roots are few of the causes of potholes, deep cracks, and uneven surfaces in parking lots and on sidewalks. Left unchecked, they present trip and fall hazards for employees entering and exiting the facility.
At a minimum, all outdoor sidewalks, walking paths, decks, and parking lots should be inspected with the change of each season to make sure that no surface imperfections have developed. When imper- fections are found, identifying them with traffic cones or barricades until they can be repaired will help pre- vent injuries. These inspections are also a good time
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