A task-delineated safety approach for slip, trip and fall hazards

Task-delineated safety (TDS), a behavior-based safety management scheme, wa s developed in order to address the significant problems of slip, trip and fall accidents. The hypothesis of this approach is that hazards can be mini mized if personnel are held directly accountable with clear task delineatio n for keeping an area safe. Role ambiguity would be minimized and a less ha zardous environment would result. Management's role in providing feedback a nd enforcement is paramount to the success of this and any safety managemen t scheme. This hypothesis was analyzed by focusing on slip, trip and fall h azards at a used-clothes sorting facility, with a history of slip, trip and fall accidents costing the company approximately two million US dollars in the past 3 years. Two physically identical areas were used to compare TDS to the traditional approach. The slip, trip and fall hazard density was sig nificantly lower using the TDS approach. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.