TABLE OF CONTENTS People are most often involved in accidents as they walk around the workplace or when they come into contact with vehicles in or around the workplace. It is therefore important to understand the various common accident causes and the control strategies that can be employed to reduce them. Slips, trips and falls account for the majority of accidents to pedestrians and the more serious accidents between pedestrians and vehicles can often be traced back to excessive speed or other unsafe vehicle practices, such as lack of driver training. Many of the risks associated with these hazards can be significantly reduced by an effective management system.
The most common hazards to pedestrians at work are slips, trips and falls on the same level, falls from height, collisions with moving vehicles, being struck by moving, falling or flying objects and striking against fixed or stationary objects. Each of these will be considered in turn, including the conditions and environment in which the particular hazard may arise.
These are the most common of the hazards facing pedestrians and accounted for 31% of all the major accidents and 20% of over three-day injuries reported to the HSE in 1999/2000. It has been estimated that the annual cost of these accidents to the nation is 750m and a direct cost to employers of 300m. The highest reported injuries are reported in the food and related industries.
