Workplace Solutions: Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls in Wholesale and Retail Trade Establishments

Details

• Alternative Title:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health warns of danger of trench cave-ins
• Journal Article:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Personal Author:
  Putz-Anderson, Vernon ; Afanuh, Susan E. ; Bell, Jennifer
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Employees in Wholesale and Retail Trade (WRT) establishments suffer high rates of slip, trip, and fall (STF) injuries. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends measures to ensure a safe workplace and prevent injuries. WRT includes employees engaged in wholesaling merchandise-that is, preparing, distributing, and selling merchandise in retail operations, and services related to those activities. More than 21 million employees work in the wholesale and retail industries. STFs are the second most common cause of lost-workday injuries in general industry and can cause back injuries, sprains, strains, contusions, fractures, severe head injuries, paralysis, and even fatalities. STFs are the third most common cause of lost-workday injuries in WRT establishments. Seventy-five percent of the total STF injuries in WRT occur on the same level [BLS 2010; UWSP 2010]. Slips occur as a result of low friction between the shoe and walking surface; trips occur when a person's foot contacts an object or drops to a lower level; and falls can result from either a slip or trip [UWSP 2010]. Among other risk factors, WRT employees must frequently handle and move materials, putting them at higher risk for STF injuries. Employees in retail operations have a higher incidence rate of STF injuries than private industry employees overall. Employees in grocery stores and establishments where meat is handled are at particular risk, with a 75% greater than average industry rate for all other private industries combined (28.3 vs. 16.1 per 10,000 employees) [BLS 2010; Anderson and Mulhern 2010]. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Content Notes:
  "October 2012."
  
  This document was prepared by Vern Anderson, Susan Afanuh, and Jennifer Bell of NIOSH.
  
  Also available via the World Wide Web as an Acrobat .pdf file (765 KB, 4 p.)
  
  Includes bibliographical references (p. [4)].
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Nervous System Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Prevention Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Safety Management Workplace

  More +
• Keywords:
  Workers; Work-areas; Fall-protection; Injuries; Accidents; Safety-measures; Retail-workers; Back-injuries; Head-injuries; Traumatic-injuries; Risk-factors; Employee-exposure; Employee-health; Employees; Workers; Work-areas; Work-environment; Surveillance
• Source:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2013-100, 2012 Oct; :1-4
• Series:
  NIOSH Numbered Publications
• Subseries:
  Workplace Solutions
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Periodical
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  EID - Education and Information Division ; DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  4 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20041744
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2013-102393
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services ; Wholesale and Retail Trade ; Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:37dbee7911ff6b402b833c905f523cba96427ee49c82aed355182883c6aa712beb577b33ee2110de00b81b25966723d6907e2025aafaa104e162b1161c54e6e3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/12092/cdc_12092_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 764.39 KB ]