Last month the HSE launched a campaign, Shattered Lives, which is aimed at creating a step-change in the attitudes of both businesses and their workers in several sectors. It will encourage them to take responsibility for preventing needless accidents to themselves and their colleagues.

The campaign is designed to help reduce the number of slip, trip and fall injuries, which currently account for one fatality a week and 38% of all major workplace injuries. In 2006-2007, these injuries cost society around
£811 million.

Slips and trips remain the most common cause of major injuries at work and the RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) figures in this area have plateaued, despite successes in some sectors.

For Shattered Lives, the HSE is focusing its efforts on five priority sectors:

• food and drink manufacture
• hotel and catering
• food retail
• construction
• building and plant maintenance.

Of the almost 11,000 injuries reported to the HSE last year from slips, trips and falls in these sectors, nearly half (46%) were from the construction and building and plant maintenance areas.

The food connection

Preventing slips and trips is the key aim in the first three sectors in the list. Last year, more than a third of injuries from slips, trips and falls reported to the HSE originated in the food manufacturing and food retail industries and in catering and hospitality. More than 10 major injuries a week are reported to us.

The number of major injuries in food manufacturing remains high, though the total has been coming down, and it still has a higher rate than other sectors in manufacturing.

Catering and hospitality feature for similar reasons, plus the fact that the campaign can amplify what the HSE is already doing with its Stop Slips in Kitchens initiative which has already distributed 30,000 copies of the kitchens pack to catering staff via local councils.

Food retail is included because slip incidents remain high in larger
supermarkets especially. The food element links the three sectors, and allows HSE (which enforces the manufacturing side) and local authorities (who police retail safety) to work together. Inspectors from both will be checking that the messages of the campaign have been absorbed in their visits to food companies and stores following on from the campaign.

The focus for plant and maintenance and construction is the safe management of working at height. While the number of fatal accidents from falls from height is on a downward trend, fatal accidents in the construction sector rose to 77 in 2006-07 after an all time low in 2005-06. Twenty-three of the 77 construction deaths were due to falls from height.

There are no definitive figures for falls in plant maintenance operations, but the HSE estimates they are above the all-industry average.
Historically, falls from height have been the biggest cause of fatalities in the sector. So we need to remind people to ensure safe working practices, including issues around competence. The construction element of the campaign follows an intervention by inspectors currently underway targeting potential falls and trips in that sector.

Grow your own

The HSE sees health and safety professionals as crucial to the campaign to change attitudes and asks that they take the role of campaigners in their own organisations. The emphasis of Shattered Lives is that all employees, not just those tasked with assessing risks, should be responsible for cutting the numbers of slips, trips and falls.

This means getting the message through to the entire workforce that health and safety is everyone's responsibility. This could mean working closely with human resources departments to introduce strategies to encourage individuals to watch out for their own and their colleagues' health and safety.

The HSE has produced supporting information, in the form of leaflets, DVDs, downloadable posters and information packs, to help health and safety professionals kick-start Shattered Lives campaigns in their own organisations. These resources are available free through the Shattered Lives dedicated web pages or by calling the infoline on 0845 345 0055.

With an effective management system in place and the cooperation of other disciplines, health and safety professionals will be well placed to:

• work with colleagues to identify problem areas and set goals for improvement help colleagues gain the knowledge to identify and take action over potential risks, ensuring they are aware that it is everyone's responsibility
• give workers, including cleaning and contract staff, responsibility for specific areas
• make sure working practices and processes are being carried out
• properly and keep a record of all cleaning and maintenance work
• talk to colleagues so they can give feedback on how measures are working.

Promoting employee ownership of safety in food manufacturing and preparation areas will involve workers accepting the need to act in ways that are likely to help them and their colleagues avoid slips and trips.

HSE inspectors look for these sort of "observable behaviours" on site visits. Such behaviours include:

• immediate cleaning up of spills
• good standards of housekeeping generally
• habitual use of handrails
• no rushing around
• use of correct footwear.

Inspectors may also take the temperature of the safety culture by checking employees' willingness to report any unsafe conditions or unplanned events; their commitment to reducing slip, trip and fall accidents; and their willingness to improve their own and their colleagues' safety more generally.

Of course, these factors come on top of any controls the employer has introduced as a result of their risk assessment, such as providing slip-resistant flooring and/or footwear, thorough cleaning procedures and adequate drainage and lighting.

In food retail, good housekeeping is also an important area of employee responsibility. If the organisation has procedures for monitoring aisles and produce sections, removing fallen items from the floor immediately or cleaning up spills, but employees do not see the importance of these procedures or give other activities priority, they put their colleagues and the public at risk.

Constructive suggestions

Falls are a special problem in construction; they are the major cause of death in the industry.

Health and safety professionals should be trying to ensure that:

• everyone on site looks out for the hazards they could meet and takes a moment to help manage the risks sensibly
• the logistics of material supplies and movements are considered (what is to be delivered, when, and where it is to be stored), alongside waste control
• employees keep walkways and stairs (especially emergency routes) free of tripping hazards, such as trailing wires and loose materials
• employees keep work areas as clear as possible of unnecessary materials, equipment, debris and other hazards.

You should be looking to ensure principal contractors have the same safety standards as yours and that they have systems for hiring and controlling subcontractors that include checking workers' competence and actively monitoring their work.

Ensure all dutyholders on any construction site:

• identify jobs that involve work at height and ensure that appropriate safety precautions are in place
• have procedures for choosing the correct equipment and ensure that the selected equipment is actually used
• communicate risk control measures to the workforce
• ensure workers are competent to use the equipment that has been correctly installed/assembled
• arrange inspection and maintenance of equipment as appropriate
• have risk assessments that apply the Work at Height Regulations hierarchy (available on the HSE website)
• plan how the site will be kept tidy.

Stopping slips, trips and falls is everyone's responsibility, but employees are unlikely to change their behaviour without good support, the right equipment, training and supervision - roles for which health and safety professionals are ideally placed.

Eddie Bailey is the HSE's slips, trips and falls programme manager.