Working at height is almost inevitable if a shopping centre is to be kept safe and clean. So how can managers fulfil their responsibility to keep both workers and shoppers safe?

The importance of training in the workplace was highlighted at Metrocentre recently when bus station manager Ivan Corbett saved a baby’s life with skills he learnt on a three day first aid course.

Spring may be coming, but Aviva is warning the retail and leisure sectors of the continuing risk of slips on floors made wet by rainwater or spillages.

Slip, trip and fall incidents in the workplace cost 40 workers their lives last year and cost society an estimated £800m each year, according to the Health and Safety Executive.
HSE figures show that slips and trips are the most common cause of major workplace injury in Britain. More workplace deaths are triggered by falls from height than any other cause, according to official statistics.
In addition to 40 fatalities, there were over 15,000 major injuries to workers, as well as over 30,000 workers having to take over three days off work.
As well as the tragic human cost, preventable slips, trips and falls are having a serious financial impact on the UK. The HSE estimates that the combined financial costs incurred by society as a whole is around £800m a year, at a time when both businesses and individuals are struggling financially during the current recession.
In response, the HSE is launching a new phase of its Shattered Lives campaign, aimed at reducing slips, trips and falls in the workplace. The hard hitting campaign involves raising awareness of the impact of slips, trips and falls in the workplace and directs people to the new Shattered Lives website (www.hse.gov.uk/shatteredlives) for practical advice and guidance.
The campaign is targeted at those sectors where there are a high number of incidents each year, specifically: health and social care, education, food manufacturing, food retail, catering and hospitality, building and plant maintenance, and construction.
On the new campaign website, businesses can find out information on how they can easily, and cost effectively, reduce the risk of slips, trips and falls in the workplace, and see what other organisations, such as Sainsbury’s and First Line Digital, have done. Included on the site is an online tool called STEP and a work at height access equipment toolkit called WAIT. Advice available on the website ranges from how to deal with spills and other slip risks, to the importance of using ladders correctly to reduce the risk of falling from height.
Peter Brown, head of the HSE’s Work and Environment Division, said: “These figures highlight the very real and serious nature of preventable slip, trip and fall incidents in the workplace. Slips, trips and falls might sound funny but they shatter the lives of thousands of British workers ever year.
“Making improvements doesn’t need to cost the earth and we are encouraging people to visit the Shattered Lives website, where they will be able to get simple and cost effective solutions to help manage slips, trips and falls hazards in their workplace.”
And TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber added: “Every one of the 40 deaths caused by slips, trips and falls preventable. The key is proper risk assessment and control measures as highlighted by the HSE. Unions will warmly welcome this practical hard-hitting campaign and will be raising the issue with employers wherever and wherever they can.”

Slips and trips are an important safety concern when it comes to the design and maintenance of public and commercial areas, costing UK industry in excess of £500m a year in compensation and legal fees.
And within the shopping centre sector slips and trips account for more than 75 per cent of all claims faced by malls, according to Steve Booth, director at Slip Test. “Most of these liabilities come under the category of ‘uninsurable risk’ and thus most claims are settled either directly from the service charge or from the centre itself,” Booth notes.
And he warns: “The UK is quickly following the example of the United States and is becoming increasingly litigious. Shopping centres are now facing an unprecedented increase of personal injury claims from both genuine and bogus claimants.”
Slip Test currently tests over 10 million sq ft of retail space each year, and Booth expects this to grow, particularly in the light of new legislation on corporate manslaughter which points the finger of liability firmly at companies, but also at the ‘responsible individuals’ within those companies.
“Most schemes in the UK are managed on behalf of owners by managing agents,” Booth points out. “The managing agent will appoint a centre manager to deal with the centre on a day-to-day basis. The duty of care to the public normally falls to the incumbent centre manager. This means that the centre manager and thus the managing agent can be liable for any claims for accidents such as slips and trips that occur in the centre.”
And he warns: “Each time a claim is made the cost of defending and sometimes settling a claim is coming straight off the bottom line of the managing agent’s budget. As a manager with duty of care it is the responsibility of each centre manager to ensure that flooring in public areas is safe for shoppers to use. It is also the responsibly of centre managers to limit liability both to themselves and the owner of the scheme as well as the managing agent.”
While liquid spills and dust/dirt are recognised as clear hazards, the use of inappropriate cleaning agents or methods can be equally unsafe, according to expert slip resistance testing and consultancy firm CERAM. The company has produced a free guide to the implementation of effective cleaning and maintenance regimes for slip resistant floors, which is downloadable at www.ceram.com/slip.
The guide outlines the fundamentals of effective cleaning regimes, advises on the use of specific cleaning methods and details the correct application of different types of detergents in regular use.
“The most slip resistant surfaces can become slippery if they are not maintained appropriately,” comments Lisa Cobden, senior consultant at CERAM. “In some cases the use of incorrect cleaning materials, or ineffective maintenance regimes, has cost organisations tens of thousands of pounds, often completely unnecessarily.”
“Architects, specifiers, installers and janitorial services need information with which to properly implement appropriate cleaning and maintenance regimes for the flooring that they are responsible for,” she says.
CERAM offers both the ramp and pendulum test in their UK laboratories, as well as providing a full on-site consultancy service encompassing cleaning regimes, maintenance, integrity of substrate, wearing or weathering of flooring surfaces and trafficking patterns.

Working at height doesn’t just mean reaching the top of a lofty atrium: just changing a lightbulb or cleaning a ceiling can present a hazard. So what options for available to shopping centres looking to fulfil their health & safety obligations?

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Slip, trip and fall incidents in the workplace cost 40 workers their lives last year and cost society an estimated £800m each year, according to the Health and Safety Executive.

Slips and trips are an important safety concern when it comes to the design and maintenance of public and commercial areas, costing UK industry in excess of £500m a year in compensation and legal fees.

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