Getting to the root of slips, trips, and falls

Organisations often under-estimate the potential cost of slips, trips and falls (STF's). Dave Dexter of MSIG at Lloyd's warns against the complacency that is evident at every level.

Despite the widespread perception that such mishaps – STFs – are a minor or even trivial health and safety risk management issue, 36% of all RIDDOR reportable accidents in the UK are categorised as STFs. Sometimes such incidents are by no means minor: reportable STFs account for 57% of all defined major injuries.

Nor are they limited to employees. Of all reportable accidents involving members of the public and arising from workplace-related activities, roughly half are categorised as STFs. An astonishing 25 fatal STF injuries to members of the public were reported by UK workplaces in the reporting year 2013/14, according to the Health & Safety Executive.

Despite the obvious and hidden costs it brings, apathy about the STF peril persists at every level, from employees and employers to the insurers that pay the many costs resulting from such accidents, and even among some health and safety professionals. As a result, STFs are often overlooked, because individually they are usually not financially significant. The average STF claim settles at around £11,500, including costs.

However, cumulatively, these losses cost employers and their insurers many millions of pounds each year. One large supermarket chain has told the Association of British Insurers that it needed to keep five stores open each year to pay for personal injury costs alone. STF claims cost insurers around £800 million annually, and the figure is rising. Those costs are, of course, reflected in premium rates.

Complacency sometimes masks the true cost of these potential loss events, but in aggregate their indirect cost is very high. For British business alone, STFs account for 1.5 million lost working days annually, bringing considerable associated expenses.

Understanding of the risk is a big part of the problem. The greatest knowledge gap is apparent in the simple categorisation of STFs as a single group of perils. With STFs being categorised together under a single claims causation heading, risk managers and insurers can gain no real insights into the actual root causes of the incidents leading to the claims.

Working in collaboration with the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL), the UK’s leading health and safety research and consultancy facility (and part of the Health and Safety Executive), we sought to identify the root causes of the age-old problem of STFs. When we drilled down into the causes, it became clear that slips had very different root causes to trips, and that furthermore for slips, there was a vast range of root causes.  These are often very different, depending on the activities in the workplace, but can include cleaning regimes, floor design and maintenance, footwear selection and management of entrances.

It may be valuable for corporate risk managers to engage third parties such as the HSL to assist with the assessment and management of STF hazards and risks that may lead to injuries and claims. During our research, an unrecognised threat was discovered across all the outlets of a clothing retail chain. Low tables were used to display products, but they comprised a significant hazard to members of the public, who often tripped over them, sometimes leading to serious injuries. The danger had gone unnoticed, despite the company’s comprehensive risk management programme.

Once identified, specific root causes – like the tables – are often very straightforward and inexpensive to target and remedy.

Targeted analysis and intervention programmes carried out by the Risk Engineering team at MSIG at Lloyd’s delivered dramatic results. Overall, a trial group of businesses achieved a relative 23% reduction in STF claims, compared to a control group of companies which did not participate in the programme. One retail business in the charity sector showed a 44% reduction in claims after three years, leading to a significant advance in public safety, and a laudable reduction in pain and suffering amongst members of the public and its own employees.

When considering the recognised estimate that every pound saved in direct costs associated with a claim, avoids another £10 in hidden costs, such as management and investigation time, loss of productivity, loss of reputation, etc., the significant benefits associated with such a targeted approach to tackling the root causes of STFs are indisputable. Thus, a small investment in this area can produce great cost savings, both for individual businesses and insurers.

Dave Dexter is Casualty Risk Engineering Manager, MSIG at Lloyd’s

Dave Dexter