TY - JOUR
T1 - State of science
T2 - occupational slips, trips and falls on the same level*
AU - Chang, Wen Ruey
AU - Leclercq, Sylvie
AU - Lockhart, Thurmon
AU - Haslam, Roger
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2016/7/2
Y1 - 2016/7/2
N2 - Occupational slips, trips and falls on the same level (STFL) result in substantial injuries worldwide. This paper summarises the state of science regarding STFL, outlining relevant aspects of epidemiology, biomechanics, psychophysics, tribology, organisational influences and injury prevention. This review reaffirms that STFL remain a major cause of workplace injury and STFL prevention is a complex problem, requiring multi-disciplinary, multi-faceted approaches. Despite progress in recent decades in understanding the mechanisms involved in STFL, especially slipping, research leading to evidence-based prevention practices remains insufficient, given the problem scale. It is concluded that there is a pressing need to develop better fall prevention strategies using systems approaches conceptualising and addressing the factors involved in STFL, with considerations of the full range of factors and their interactions. There is also an urgent need for field trials of various fall prevention strategies to assess the effectiveness of different intervention components and their interactions. Practitioner Summary: Work-related slipping, tripping and falls on the same level are a major source of occupational injury. The causes are broadly understood, although more attention is needed from a systems perspective. Research has shown preventative action to be effective, but further studies are required to understand which aspects are most beneficial.
AB - Occupational slips, trips and falls on the same level (STFL) result in substantial injuries worldwide. This paper summarises the state of science regarding STFL, outlining relevant aspects of epidemiology, biomechanics, psychophysics, tribology, organisational influences and injury prevention. This review reaffirms that STFL remain a major cause of workplace injury and STFL prevention is a complex problem, requiring multi-disciplinary, multi-faceted approaches. Despite progress in recent decades in understanding the mechanisms involved in STFL, especially slipping, research leading to evidence-based prevention practices remains insufficient, given the problem scale. It is concluded that there is a pressing need to develop better fall prevention strategies using systems approaches conceptualising and addressing the factors involved in STFL, with considerations of the full range of factors and their interactions. There is also an urgent need for field trials of various fall prevention strategies to assess the effectiveness of different intervention components and their interactions. Practitioner Summary: Work-related slipping, tripping and falls on the same level are a major source of occupational injury. The causes are broadly understood, although more attention is needed from a systems perspective. Research has shown preventative action to be effective, but further studies are required to understand which aspects are most beneficial.
KW - Slips
KW - fall causation
KW - fall prevention
KW - occupational injury prevention
KW - trips and falls
KW - workplace falls
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U2 - 10.1080/00140139.2016.1157214
DO - 10.1080/00140139.2016.1157214
M3 - Review article
C2 - 26903401
AN - SCOPUS:84962045985
SN - 0014-0139
VL - 59
SP - 861
EP - 883
JO - Ergonomics
JF - Ergonomics
IS - 7
ER -