Getting a grip
November 1st 2004 Companies are facing increasing compensation claims from staff who suffer a slip, trip or fall at work.
A survey undertaken by Jallatte revealed that almost two thirds of businesses in the UK are facing such a claim from injured employees
Having spoken to 400 UK companies, that between them employ over 400 000 staff, the Jallatte survey revealed that slips and trips are the main health and safety problem for just over half of businesses. Of those health and safety managers who were dealing with slip and trip injuries in the workplace, over 61 per cent said they had witnessed an increase in the levels of people seeking compensation.
Slips, trips and falls are costing society an estimated £750 million every year, with over 40 000 workers suffering either a major or over 3 day injury as a result of slipping or tripping at work during 2002/2003 according the the HSE. Here, Jallatte takes a closer look at the findings of the survey and claims that grip needs to come higher up the list of priorities when deciding which safety footwear to choose.
Slips, trips and falls are a problem for virtually all businesses in the UK. Whether in an office environment or on construction sites, the workplace is littered with hazards. Plus, if you thought that only big companies are affected by this, think again. For according to the survey - that contacted businesses that employed anything between 8 and 70 000 employees - slips and trips are a major concern to businesses of all shapes and sizes. Aimed at health and safety managers across major industry sectors, from construction through to food manufacturing, the survey revealed that despite the growing concern over slip and trip injuries, when asked what the main safety footwear features required were, good grip was not specified.
Instead crush protection was rated as the most popular safety footwear requirement, followed by general all round protection and puncture protection. When it comes to the criteria used to determine which safety footwear products to purchase, appropriateness for task was the main criteria, closely followed by cost and comfort.
According to Paul Hamer of Jallatte, the growing compensation culture continues to take a stranglehold in UK businesses. We are living in a era where we are being bombarded with adverts promoting the compensation culture, and from this survey it would seem the messages are sinking in, making people more inclined to make a claim when they suffer an accident at work, added Mr Hamer. Slips and trips remain a real problem for businesses to deal with, but the growing trend to seek compensation is making life even tougher, said Mr Hamer.
Despite the fact that slips and trips are the most common cause of major injuries at work in the UK, with 95% of major slips resulting in broken bones, there are practical steps that can be taken to reduce their threat.
According to Jallatte, more than ever, employers need to ensure that they are assessing workplace risks, engineering out potential hazards, making sure that the workplace is kept tidy and ensuring that staff are supplied with safety footwear designed to protect against hazards specific to the job being undertaken.
It was interesting to note that when we undertook the survey, the issue of grip was never raised. From the results, it is clear that health and safety managers understand the importance of protecting the feet from being crushed or from stopping sharp objects puncturing the soles of the shoes.
But with slips being such a potential hazard, we did expect to hear more about how important it was for grip to be one of the main features required from safety footwear. The fact is however, that grip is all too often overlooked in the decision making process, said Paul.
Jallatte says that just like tyre producers who create different treads for use on different surfaces, so footwear manufacturers create new technologies to offer the same range of grip benefits to end users. As an example, the Jallatte R&D team has created a range of sole technologies to provide different grip properties appropriate to different working environments. Jallatte claim there is no ‘one sole fits all’ solution to safety footwear.
Someone who is working outside on a construction site walking across an uneven and muddy environment, will require a completely different sole technology to someone who is working in an engineering or food processing company.
While many of the the physical safety requirements needed to protect the feet may be similar across a diverse range of industry sectors the same cannot be said of sole technology. If grip started coming higher up the list of priorities in line with the physical protective qualities the threat of slips and trips taking place at work would be greatly reduced, said Paul.
While providing physical protection is clearly an essential ingredient in the safety footwear selection process, the points highlighted above show that it should not be the only consideration. A grip pattern that, when it comes out of the box, looks chunky may in reality be inappropriate for the wearer and their job.
Paul Hamer believes that grip is king when trying to reduce slips in the workplace. Get this right and the chances of employees suffering injury needlessly will be significantly reduced. More articles from Jallatte UK: | 
