3 Steps To Stair Safety In The Office
January 10, 2023
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According to The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, every year, there are over one million staircase-related injuries.
That includes fractures, soft tissue injuries, and strains. Even more concerningly, of these one million injuries, 12,000 resulted in a fatality.
While some of these injuries occurred in residential buildings like homes, apartment buildings, and retirement homes, workplace injuries are also included in this statistic. So how can we make our office buildings safer for our team?
Here Are Three Prime Steps To Stair Safety In The Office
See our few steps to stair safety.
1. Perform Routine Inspections
If your office is in a large complex, check to see that building management routinely inspects the communal stairways.
A few of the hazards they should be checking for include:
- Peeling anti-slip strips, mats, or carpeting.
- Items like furniture and garbage. These should not even be temporarily stored on staircases or stairwells.
- Spills of foods and liquids. Get these catered to immediately.
- Wobbly handrails, which should always be tight and secure.
By regularly checking for tripping risks like these, you’re minimizing the potential for a slip or fall that could have grave consequences.
2. Employ Permanent Safety Measures
More permanent safety adjustments could be:
- Adequate signage displayed when doors open onto stairwells, so that team members know that there’s a likelihood of potential obstruction.
- An evacuation chair so that employees and clients with mobility issues, vision impairment, seniors, and pregnant people can be safely evacuated from the building in an emergency. Be sure to seek out evacuation stair chairs for sale so that you have an inclusive evacuation plan.
- Bright and appropriate lighting on staircases.
- Signage displayed on steps following ice, snow, or rain as a visual reminder to your team that the stairs might be slippery.
For outdoor steps and sidewalks, be sure to salt or shake out the grit in good time following a snowfall. A build-up of ice is a danger to both office employees and to members of the public, leaving your building open to potentially injuring someone and even a follow-up lawsuit.
3. Display Stair Safety Tips
Display stair safety tips in communal areas or include them in emailed office memos.
Some points you could include might be the following:
- Wear appropriate footwear with a good grip. Make sure laces are tied and not overly long.
- Don’t run on the stairs.
- Be cautious when carrying coffees and teas up and downstairs; make sure nothing spills. Depending on the office setup, if a spill happens, the spiller should alert the cleaning team or clean it themselves immediately.
- Use the handrails.
- Don’t read newspapers or office work, or text on the phone, while on staircases.
- Take one step at a time; don’t miss steps.
- Don’t carry stacks of boxes or papers which may obstruct vision. Make multiple trips or ask a co-worker for assistance if there’s a lot to carry.
Lastly, ensure the staircase or stairwell is up to code if you’re securing a new office space. Ask your local authority for the specifications for your area.
Some good questions would be: What’s the appropriate riser height? What’s the correct tread width? And what are the handrail standards for your city?
Employees generally spend a third of their day in the workplace; it’s important that they’re kept as safe and secure as possible. With these common-sense tips, you can ensure your staircase is an attractive office feature and not a waiting hazard.
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