Food, cleaning and maintenance personnel are at the greatest risk of contracting STF due to exposure to water, grease or slippery walking surfaces. Personnel who work in areas that are continuously wet, such as areas where dishes are washed and surgical instruments are decontaminated, can benefit from non-slip footwear. An official website of the United States government The. gov means that it is official.
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Safety Research Division, Morgantown, WV. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. The objective of this research was to describe the experience and trends of slip, trip and fall injuries in a population of nursing home workers, identify risk factors for slip, trip and fall injuries, and develop prevention strategies for slip, trip and fall risks. Data on work-related injury claims and payroll data from 1996 to 2003 were obtained from six nursing homes and were used to calculate injury incidence rates. Narrative information was used to describe the details of slip, trip, and fall events.
Over the 8-year period, a total of 86 workers' compensation claims related to slips, trips, and falls were filed. Slip, trip and fall claim rates showed a negligible increase over the 8-year period. Most slips, trips and falls were attributed to hazards that can be mitigated (e.g.Nursing home workers receive more claims for injuries related to slips, trips, and falls than workers in other industries. Preventive programs must be implemented and evaluated in this industry.
The statistical analyses were performed with version 9.3 of the SAS (SAS Institute Inc.). The trends were calculated using Poisson regression (GENMOD procedure) with the number of cases of slip, trip and fall injuries as the outcome variable, divided by person time. For the six nursing care centers in the study, workers' compensation claims and productive hours worked per year were used in the trend analysis. In the analysis of national trends, cases of injuries caused by lost work days from the Bureau of Labor Statistics were used, together with the number of workers reported in the current U.S.
population survey. UU. The 86 slip, trip and fall claims were classified, based on the information in the description of the claims, to identify the causal factors of the event (table. The highest percentage, 36% (n = 3), was attributed to liquid contamination (e.g.Six of these 31 specifically mentioned cases occurred in a bath or shower.
The second most important category (23% of total incidents) was slips, trips and falls that were not otherwise classified according to the factors that contributed to them. An example of the type of claim in this category would be “slip, no fall”, back sprain, in which the injury (slip, no fall) and the nature of the injury (back sprain) were described, but the causal factors were not described (for example, claims for slips, trips and falls classified by causal factor). The employees were classified into six functional working groups according to the title of the position (table).The workers were labeled as nurses, care aides, food services, cleaning, maintenance and everyone else. Of the six work groups, the nursing group and the maintenance group had the lowest slip, trip, and fall claim rates, of 1.2 per 100 full-time employees and 0.8 per 100 full-time workers, respectively.
The care assistant group had the highest rate of slip, trip and fall claims, with 2.6 claims per 100 full-time individuals. Rate of workers' compensation claims for slips, trips and falls by workgroup Occupational slips, trips and falls can be prevented. Evidence suggests that center-wide programs aimed at common slip, trip, and fall risks can reduce the injury rate at a facility. Slippery floors can be addressed through changes, for example, by improving cleaning practices (e.g., floors that get wet frequently (e.g., employees who help residents in these humid environments) should consider wearing non-slip shoes to increase traction. Employees who work in kitchens can benefit from wearing non-slip shoes throughout their shift.
Workers should be trained on recording and coding the initial injury to ensure that the details of each injury are properly documented and encoded in injury records. Workers must also be trained to recognize the common risks of slips, trips, and falls in the workplace and to mitigate these hazards promptly. It is expected that more institutions will recognize that slips, trips and falls represent a significant part of the injuries suffered by workers in nursing care facilities and will take steps to prevent them. Occupational injuries from slips, trips, and falls can be prevented.
Compared to other groups of workers, workers in nursing care facilities have high rates of injuries due to lost working hours due to slips, trips, and falls. Care assistants and food service workers are at the highest risk of injury from slips, trips, and falls. Evidence suggests that a program that encompasses the entire facility and addresses the most common risks of slips, trips, and falls can reduce the injury rate at a facility. Examine injury trends within a facility by type of event (i.e., the initial injury event must be recorded and encoded).
All employees must be trained to recognize the common risks of slips, trips and falls in the workplace and to mitigate them quickly. Bell, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Safety Research Division, Morgantown, WV. Collins, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Safety Research Division, Morgantown, WV. Tiesman, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Safety Research Division, Morgantown, WV.
Marilyn Ridenour, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Safety Research Division, Morgantown, WEST VIRGINIA. Srinivas Konda, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Safety Research Division, Morgantown, VIRGINIA WESTERN. Bradley Evanoff, of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. The incidence rate in nursing care facilities exceeds that of all industries in terms of total slips and trips at the same level and falls 19.5 compared to 26.4 per 10,000 workers, respectively.
Bathing and restroom use for dependent patients, for example, can add unique risks of slips, trips and falls to long-term work. It may not seem obvious, but keeping floors clean and dry in these healthcare environments is vitally important. If specific slip, trip, and fall prevention initiatives are encouraged and implemented in nursing care facilities, slip, trips, and falls injuries are reduced nationwide (e.g., hospital risk managers and safety managers are well aware that the most common causes of injuries among health workers are injuries caused by overexertion and lifting, primarily due to the movement of patients). Involving all healthcare workers (and even patients) in identifying and reducing hazards at the center will improve employee and patient safety, improve morale, and reduce costs.
The descriptive information for each claim was used to identify specific details about the circumstances of the slip, trip and fall incident. In the United States, STFs by hospital employees account for 25% of injuries; in the United Kingdom, STFs account for nearly half of occupational injuries in the healthcare setting. As a reference point, national data on slips, trips and falls from nursing care facilities (NAICS 623) collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (NAICS 623) were analyzed. An example of the type of claim in this category would be “slip, no fall” or back sprain, where the injury (slip, not fall) and the nature of the injury (back sprain) were described, but the causative factors were not described (e.g., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered that pollutants spilled on the floor are a major cause of slip, trip and fall (STF) accidents in health facilities.
