The CSC helpline has seen an increase in accidents relating to slips, trips and falls. The impact of accidents have ranged from slight bruising to fractures to life changing injury.
Sometimes the repercussions can be so severe that it results in a loss of life. This was the case when a man slipped on water leaking from a faulty sandwich fridge. Stanley May, 74, died two days after hitting his head on the floor in the Truro branch of the supermarket in July 2015. The Co – Operative Truro was fined £400,000. Truro Crown Court heard the chiller had been faulty for 44 hours but customers could still enter the wet area.
The Co-op previously pleaded guilty to a health and safety offence of failing to protect customers. Engineers had tried to fix the chiller two days earlier, but it had continued to leak onto the vinyl floor. A yellow ‘wet floor’ sign had been used, but the affected area extended beyond it. This fatality along with many other accidents can easily be avoided if basic fundamentals of health and safety and practical guidance is followed;
Employees must not endanger themselves or others and must use any safety equipment provided (including relevant footwear where necessary).
Source:
https://www.shponline.co.uk/co-op-fined-400000-wet-floor-slip-death/
http://www.cs-compliance.co.uk/the-danger-that-is-slips-trip-and-falls-and-how-to-prevent-them/