A task-delineated safety approach for slip, trip and fall hazards

Abstract

Task-delineated safety (TDS), a behavior-based safety management scheme, was developed in order to address the significant problems of slip, trip and fall accidents. The hypothesis of this approach is that hazards can be minimized if personnel are held directly accountable with clear task delineation for keeping an area safe. Role ambiguity would be minimized and a less hazardous environment would result. Management's role in providing feedback and enforcement is paramount to the success of this and any safety management scheme. This hypothesis was analyzed by focusing on slip, trip and fall hazards at a used-clothes sorting facility, with a history of slip, trip and fall accidents costing the company approximately two million US dollars in the past 3 years. Two physically identical areas were used to compare TDS to the traditional approach. The slip, trip and fall hazard density was significantly lower using the TDS approach.