Protecting Patients from Slips, Trips, and Falls

Protecting Patients from Slips, Trips, and Falls

Protecting your staff and patients from slips, trips, and falls is essential to ensure their health, safety and well-being whilst at work/their place of treatment. Follow these steps in your workplace to prevent such incidents:

Floor Safety:

• Maintain clean and dry floors, promptly cleaning up spills or wet areas.
• Use non-slip flooring materials in high-risk areas like bathrooms and corridors.
• Regularly inspect and repair damaged flooring to prevent tripping hazards.
• Ensure your staff’s uniform policy covers the use of suitable footwear whilst at work.

Clear Pathways:

• Keep hallways, corridors, wards and patient rooms clutter-free to provide clear pathways.
• Organise cables, cords, and medical equipment to avoid trip hazards.

Proper Signage:

• Use clear signage to indicate wet floors, potential hazards, and restricted areas.
• Ensure clear visibility of warning signs for patients, staff and other users of the facility.

Lighting:

• Ensure well-lit areas, especially in entrances, corridors, wards, consulting rooms and other patient areas.
• Replace burnt-out bulbs promptly and maintain consistent lighting levels.

Assistance and Mobility Aids:

• Provide walking aids, handrails, and grab bars to assist patients with mobility challenges. 
• Educate patients on the proper use of aids and encourage them to request assistance if needed.

Bedside Safety:

• Lower patient bed heights to reduce fall impact and risk.
• Use bed alarms to notify staff when a patient tries to get out of bed.

Patient Education:

• Educate patients about potential fall risks and safety measures during their stay.
• Encourage patients to call for assistance when getting out of bed or moving around.

Bedside Furniture Arrangement:

• Arrange furniture to minimise obstacles and ensure easy access for patients and staff.

Fall Risk Assessment:

• Conduct fall risk assessments for all patients upon admission and regularly during their stay.
• Tailor care plans to address individual patient needs and fall risks.
• Ensure staff across all shifts are briefed on the risk assessments conducted for each patient.

Staff Training:

• Ensure staff are trained in proper patient transfer techniques and safe mobility assistance.
• Promote a culture of vigilance and proactive observation for potential hazards.

Monitoring and Reporting:

• Establish a system to document and report near-miss incidents and falls.
• Analyse incident data to identify trends and implement preventive measures.

Continuous Improvement:

• Regularly review and update your organisation’s policies and procedures for fall prevention.
• Ensure slips, trips and falls risk assessments are captured as part of a periodic review process and that new controls and any changes are communicated to relevant staff.
• Engage staff in feedback and improvement suggestions.

By implementing these tactics, you can work towards reducing the number of slips, trips, and falls within your organisation.

Need some support?

At accuSafe, we can support you in implementing an effective fall reduction programme to ensure the continued well-being of your patients and your team. For expert guidance on this, or any other health and safety challenge, don’t hesitate to reach out to us on 0333 012 4045 or enquiries@accusafe.uk. 

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