Case Studies

Case Studies by Industry

Slip and Fall Fallout

Help me. I've fallen and I can't get up!.

Ah, we've all heard this line before, and it can mean injury, pain, insurance claims and even lawsuits.

Slips, trips, and falls are real events that occur frequently and for a host of reasons ranging from snow and ice, faulty railings, flooring issues, design flaws, and carelessness or even reckless behavior.

An insurance claim on a slip, trip, or fall can lead to expensive claims litigation, lost work time, and increased insurance and operating costs. It is vital that an investigation into the accident be completed to determine this possibility, and to gather facts as to the cause of the slip or fall.

Below are some case studies of slip and fall incidents and their causes. These scenarios will give you insight into the types of accidents that can and do occur. This is precisely why it is so important to be aware of your environment, and make sure to take all precautions so that you can avoid becoming a "case study" yourself.

When one employee after another slipped and fell at a Texas fast-food restaurant, the owner called his janitorial supply distributor, Gulf Coast Paper.

“They had a problem with greasy, slippery tiles,” says Randy Whiteaker, branch manager of Gulf Coast Paper in Austin, Texas. “They were having slip-and-fall accidents all the time. The result was lawsuits and a big rise in insurance premiums, not to mention the pain of lost time.”

Whiteaker showed his customer, who owns more than 100 fast-food franchises, the correct products to improve floor conditions. He also helped the company establish a proper floor-care program, and then trained employees on the new products and procedures.
The restaurant’s story illustrates a common slip-and-fall scenario: A facility unwittingly makes an error in floor-care product or, more likely, procedure that leads to unsafe conditions. And like this situation, it often takes an accident before an owner takes an interest in floor safety.

The Right Stuff

Half of all slip-related falls happen because of unsafe or unclean floors, according to the National Floor Safety Institute. People slip on greasy restaurant floors, trip on a grape left lying in the grocery’s produce aisle, or fall when they don’t see a “wet floor” sign on a marble floor.

Proper products could prevent some of these accidents.

Get With the Program

Employees should use the correct footwear and deal with spills promptly, properly mark wet areas, and always be on the lookout for potential hazards.

Managers should frequently inspect working and walking areas to identify environmental and equipment hazards that could cause slips, trips and falls. Immediate corrective action should be taken.

All slips, trips and falls, with or without injury, should be reported, recorded and thoroughly investigated. Corrective action to prevent such a repeat occurrence should be taken immediately.

It’s wise to have regular meetings to discuss floor safety. This is a time to consider procedural or product changes, and to look at slip-and-fall incidents and how they can be avoided in the future.

Not only can a good program prevent accidents, it can also be an important tool in defending against litigation. A single claim can cost a company thousands of euros. While many claims are legitimate, plenty of others are fraudulent. Either way, a company that can demonstrate that it has a thorough footwear program will likely fare better in court than a company with no such program.

It’s important to stress to customers the importance of maintaining their program. Starting a great program and then quickly forgetting about it doesn’t do anyone any good.

“A lot of people have programs in place, but they don’t have continuous follow-through, they work it for a while but then it doesn’t become that important until it’s too late.”