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Online Symposium to Focus on Falls

Thursday, October 8, 2009

The American Society of Safety Engineers will offer “Slips, Trips and Falls: Best Practices and Standards,” a virtual symposium on workplace safety, from Oct. 20-22.

As a follow-up to “Best-in-Class Safety Management,” its successful first virtual symposium in April, the October symposium will discuss how to minimize the personal and financial cost of slips, trips and falls in the workplace.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), falls were responsible for 13 percent of all workplace deaths in 2008 and were the third largest cause of on-the-job deaths. In 2007, nonfatal work injuries due to falls on the same level, requiring days away from work, increased by 10 percent from 2006 levels. In addition, floors, walkways and ground surfaces accounted for 20 percent of all “days-away-from-work” injuries or illnesses in 2007, an increase of seven percent from 2006.

“Falls in the workplace are the number one preventable loss type, and in public places, falls are far and away the leading cause of injury,” noted Steven Di Pilla, ARM, American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/ASSE A1264.2 slip resistance standard subcommittee chair noted In a Professional Safety Journal article titled “Walkway Surface Safety & Traction in the Workplace: The Rest of the Equation.”

“To achieve significant reductions in accidental losses, risk managers and safety professionals must identify loss problems through analysis, establish priorities and attack the worst problems first. Falls are the dominant controllable loss type in most types of businesses, whether the exposure is highest to employees, customers or both,” Di Pilla wrote.

Symposium attendees will have the opportunity to attend 12 general and concurrent live virtual sessions on new ideas and proven practices, as well as the ability to interact with peers and speakers within the Virtual Symposium Network in real-time.

The keynote virtual presentation “Lessons Learned Investigating Slip, Trip and Fall Incidents” will be given by Keith Vidal, P.E., president of Vidal Engineering L.C. and chairman of the ANSI/ASSE A1264 committee and the ASTM F13.10 committee on traction.

Concurrent virtual session topics include slip, trip and fall prevention training strategies, insurance perspectives, investigation, fraud management, behavior change, best practices, industry specific sessions, maintenance, design, and management controls. There will also be a mini-expo available online to learn about the latest information about slip, trip and fall products and services. Registered attendees will also receive select ANSI/ASSE standards.

The symposium format is simple to follow and easy to use. Attendees need only a computer and Internet connection and may participate when and where it is most convenient. A session may be viewed “live” during the day of the session, or as a recording later that evening up to 30 days after the symposium ends. For more information, visit http://www.asse.org/education/stfsymposium/.