|
Icy or Snowy Surface Cause 1 in 4 Slips and Trips Injuries in the Service Industry
- KOSHA announces accident prevention campaign period and a safety check-list -
January 17, 2011
|
[Accident Cases: Slips and Trips injuries caused by icy or snowy surfaces]
Case 1.
On January 8, 2010, a 64-year-old janitor of a building broke a bone in his toe when he slipped on an
icy road. He had been out of the building on patrol and was just returning to his office at 4 a.m.
Case 2.
On January 19, 2010, a 52-year-old city employee broke his ankle when he slipped on an icy road. He
was in charge of regulating illegal advertising installments and he got injured on duty at a bus station.
Case 3.
On January 15, 2010, a 37-year-old food deliveryman was walking down the stairs and fell when he
accidentally stepped on an icy surface. He injured his lower back when it hit the edge of the stair.
Case 4.
At around 9 a.m. on February 19, 2010, a 30-year-old hospital employee broke his left ankle when he
slipped on an icy surface of a parking lot. |
The most frequent type of slips or trips accidents ? about one in four such accidents - in the service
industry is caused by snowy or icy roads, according to the numbers released by Korea Occupational
Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA; President: Min-Ki Noh).
Occupational accidents statistics released by KOSHA showed that 7,260 service industry workers have
fallen victims to accidents involving slips and trips from January to March, in 2010. Out of the 7,260
injured workers, as many as 1,885 of them got hurt due to snowy or icy surfaces.
※ No. of slip and trip accident victims in the service industry, due to snowy or icy surfaces
|
|
January ~ March, 2010 |
January ~ March, 2009 |
|
Slips and trips accidents in total |
Slips and trips accidents due to snowy or icy surfaces |
Slips and trips accidents in total |
Slips and trips accidents due to snowy or icy surfaces |
|
No. of injured workers |
7,260 |
1,885 |
4,668 |
475 |
In particular, the number of slips and trips victims in the service industry stood at 1,885 from January to March, 2010, which is a four-fold increase from the same period in the previous year (475 injured
workers).
Looking at each sector of the service industry, the most number of slip and trip accidents happened
among building maintenance workers (569 injured workers), followed by retail & wholesale, HORECA
(hotel, restaurant, and catering), hygiene, health and social welfare workers.
※ No. of slip and trip accident victims in different sectors of the service industry (January ~ March, 2010)
|
|
Total |
Building maintenance |
Retail & wholesale |
HORECA |
Hygiene |
Health and social welfare |
others |
|
No. injured workers |
1,885 |
569 |
244 |
241 |
231 |
200 |
400 |
Against this backdrop, KOSHA has designated the first three months of this year as “Slip and trip
accident prevention campaign period for the Service Industry” and it plans to come up with various
measures to protect workers in each workplace.
To begin with, KOSHA urged workplaces to always keep the floor of work areas dry in order to prevent any liquids on the floor from freezing. Also, based on KOSHA’s guidelines, warning signs should be
installed on slippery surfaces, and workers need to wear skid-proof shoes when cleaning up the snow.
On the other hand, KOSHA will designate officials in each regional and local office, who will be
responsible for slips and trips prevention activities in the service industry. Also, information about
accident prevention in workplaces will be distributed to workplaces and related campaigns will be
launched as well. Furthermore, workplaces will receive text message alerts before heavy snow or when
the temperatures drop to unusually low level, to help them make necessary preparations.
KOSHA will also provide “self checklist”, which will help some sectors in the service industries to check
risk factors before starting actual work. Sectors in the service industry that require outdoor works
include building maintenance, retail & wholesale, and so on.
“Shoes with wide soles must be worn to prevent slips or trips in winter. Long working hours in
outdoors, such as snow cleanups, can compromise workers’ flexibility due to the low temperature and
cause more severe injuries. Therefore, taking regular breaks and doing stretching can go a long way to prevent accidents.” said, an official from KOSHA.
|
