Slips and falls cost time, money

A tray-carrying waiter taking a pratfall on a banana peel may be a catalyst for belly laughs in a dark movie theater, but in the light of a commercial kitchen, it's a recipe for injury.

Slip-and-fall accidents are the leading cause of employee injury in eating and drinking establishments, according to statistics from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Not only are they often the most serious injuries a restaurant employee can incur, but also they are often the leading cause of days lost from work and workers' compensation claims.

In 1998, the last year for which complete statistics are available, OSHA recorded 26,362 cases of same-level falls, slips and trips involving restaurant workers that were serious enough to cause an employee to lose at least a day from work.

A Bureau of Labor Statistics report showing that six people lost their lives because of slip-and-fall accidents sustained while they were working in a restaurant during 1998 reinforces the seriousness of the issue for the industry. In 1993 11 people died on the job because of a slip or fall in a restaurant.

But while slips and falls are the leading cause, other injuries resulting from cuts and burns, nonfatal electrocutions, automobile accidents, trauma injuries from fights, and stabbing and gunshot wounds are often the events that make headlines in foodservice.

Indeed, in 1998 more than 106,000 restaurant workers lost at least a day from work when the BLS counted all occupational injuries. That same year 107 restaurant workers lost their lives on the job, a decline of about 50 percent from the 201 restaurant employees who died on the job in 1993, the BLS reports.

Even north of the border, Canadian operators are struggling to control employee injury. But operators there took a severe rebuke when a quasi-government safety agency accused them of taking worker safety entirely too lightly. Charging that Canadian restaurateurs see safety training as a distraction from bottom-line concerns, the Ontario Service Safety Alliance -- a private agency that helps the Canadian government and employers improve work-site safety -- said few operators give safety a priority.

"Over the past year awareness about health and safety has increased," the OSSA reports. "But in an industry driven by the clock and profit, there is still a long way to go before the health and safety of this largely so-called disposable workforce becomes a priority."

But whether it's Canada or the United States, restaurant operators, insurance companies and vendors of safety equipment who service the industry say there's nothing more likely to occur than slips and falls.

Whether it's the most revered four-star palace, a mom-and-pop greasy spoon on the highway, an employee cafeteria in Microsoft or McDonald's 10,321st unit, restaurant kitchens present a veritable obstacle course of hazards with the potential to cause a slip-and-fall accident.

"Water on the floor, either from spillage or leaking equipment, is the leading cause of injury, followed by a foreign object or food matter on the floor," says Rich Clark, a field agent for Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance who manages the account of a national restaurant chain. "And the lack of sound floor-cleaning procedures certainly contributes to the problem."

Liberty Mutual advocates a three-pronged approach in advising clients on how to attack the problem of slips and falls and reduce its exposure to accident claims, Clark explains.

He adds that it all begins with the science of tribology, the study of surface friction, and the investigation of flooring materials used to cover the surface.

At Liberty Mutual's research facility in Hopkinton, Mass., the company actively is engaged in trying to identify the slipperiness of different flooring materials, Clark asserts. It also is working to establish standardized testing procedures and tools that will allow it to measure, through an equation called the "co-efficiency of friction," the decline in the slip resistance of various flooring materials over time.

The effort is important, Clark says, because the choice of appropriate flooring materials is the first step in eliminating accidents.

"We work with our restaurant clients to monitor their floors, taking slip meter readings at individual locations," Clark reports. "We also work with them to make sure they are cleaning their floors correctly."

The establishment of floor management protocols to ensure that proper cleaning procedures and materials are used is the second prong of attack in the battle to eliminate slip-and-fall injuries, Clark says.

Simply soaking up spills and mopping the floor with a general-purpose cleaner will not do the job, Clark explains. He outlined a recommended procedure that begins with the sweeping of debris, followed by a thorough mopping and then an application of a chemical to break down built-up grease.

An aggressive scrubbing with a deck brush comes next in the process, Clark says, adding that the removal of residue with a squeegee is also necessary to complete the process.

The final component in Liberty Mutual's approach to addressing the problem of slips and falls is simple, Clark says. It involves convincing restaurant companies to embrace a shoe policy that encourages their employees to wear slip-resistant footwear on the job.

"Shoes are the first line of defense," declares Matt Smith, executive vice president of Shoe for Crews, a West Palm Beach, Fla.-based manufacturer of slip-resistant footwear and floor mats whose clients include many of the industry's major chains.

"You can train your employees, you can clean your floor, but the reality is, in a burger joint or chicken place during the lunch rush, someone is going to pull something out of the fryer, and grease is going to drip on the floor.

"And everyone is in a rush, and someone is going to slip on that grease, unless they are wearing slip-resistant shoes that work."

The average slip-and-fall accident costs a restaurant between $3,000 and $4,000, Smith explains, adding that an average fast feeder could expect to have somewhere between two and four slip-and-fall incidents in the course of any given 12-month period.

According to Smith, many of those accidents and much of the cost associated with them could be eliminated if more restaurant companies worked diligently to ensure that all back-of-the-house staff were outfitted with slip-resistant shoes.

At the 14-unit Hof's Hut family-dining chain based in Los Alamitos, Calif., company sources said the chain has experienced an 80-percent drop in the number of slip-and-fall incidents in the five years its slip-resistant shoe policy has been in effect.

Mike Jank, vice president of risk management for Spartanburg, S.C.-based Advantica Restaurants Inc., said the development of a shoe policy and the establishment of a payroll deduction program were crucial elements in the company's effort to reduce slip-and-fall accidents in its Denny's, Coco's and Carrows units.

"We haven't conquered the problem yet, but we've made some significant inroads," Jank states. "Three years ago less than 20 percent of our employees were wearing safety shoes; now more than 40 percent wear them. As a result, we have seen a 33-percent decrease in the number of slip-and-fall injuries."

Jank cited top-down support for the shoe program involving incentives to area managers based on compliance rates and accident records as helping to drive the strategy.

In addition to the shoe program, Advantica has implemented other initiatives aimed at reducing the risk of injuries from falls, slips and trips. The company now does pre-employment and post-accident drug testing, uses slip-resistant tiles in all new construction and remodels, works with its vendors to design equipment and chemicals that will do a better job of cleaning kitchen floors and invests time and money in safety training.

"We have a training and communications program for our associates and managers where several times during the month we will talk about floor safety," Jank says. "The program is tied to a safety incentive program we call 'safety bingo.'"

The game, as Jank explains it, rewards employees with prizes ranging from a free meal to a $50 debit card and is a simple variation on the standard game of bingo. Under the rules a number is drawn in each unit every day, provided that the individual restaurant has not had an accident. The longer the unit can remain accident free, the greater the chance its employees have to win prizes. Should an accident occur, cards are turned in and the game starts anew from ground zero.

But slip-resistant shoes have their limitations, especially for operators in the pizza business.

Tom Thompson, director of risk management, safety and security for Papa John's, reports that slip-resistant shoes do not work in kitchens where flour is used heavily. He says flour on the flour tends to cake up into little balls under the soles of the shoes and actually increases the chance of a slip. He believes the chain's best defense against slips and falls is continual cleaning and using common sense.

Training and awareness programs like Advantica's are becoming increasingly popular in the industry with the knowledge that efforts to prevent slip-and-fall accidents can have a real impact on the bottom line, says Angela Thomas of the National Restaurant Association's Educational Foundation.

Thomas, a brand manager for the foundation's workplace safety program, says that in response to operator demand, the NRA recently produced an animated training video on ways to avoid slip-and-fall accidents. The new video supplements the existing package of NRA training materials on the issue, which includes posters, discussion guides and quiz cards geared to reinforcing a restaurant operator's in-house training programs.

Rigorous maintenance, thorough training and slip-resistant materials all play roles in coping with the persistent problem of slip-and-fall accidents, says Samir Jhavari, a Roanoke, Va.-based group product manager for Rubbermaid Inc., as does the proper use of warning signs to alert people to potential dangers. Jhavari estimates that 90 percent of all slip-and-fall accidents could be prevented.

Despite operators' best efforts, some slip-and-fall incidents inevitably are going to occur given the tight quarters and wet environment in the typical restaurant kitchen, says Liberty Mutual's Clark. The effort to prevent accidents begins at the design and construction phase with the selection of materials, the design of traffic flow and the arrangement of equipment, Clark explains. He adds that when it comes to the avoidance of accidents, restaurant operators should strive to be as proactive as possible.

More recently, the National Safety Council, in dropping the word "accident" from its annual tally of job site injuries and deaths, identified slips and falls as one of the most preventable mishaps in foodservice.

"We stopped using the term 'accident' because it implies some kind of unpreventable, random event," says Alan Hoskins, statistics manager of the NSC. Instead, the council calls accidents on the job what they are: injuries.

Many human resources and risk managers say the incidence of slips and falls is ultimately linked to the industry's high turnover rates and dependence on young, often first-time workers and immigrants.

Executives complain that despite improved training and learn-as-you-go video and Intranet training programs, the steady turnover in workers means new hires often take a lackadaisical attitude toward personal safety on the job.

One way employers have responded to that problem is by pressuring their slip-resistant shoe manufacturers to design a wealth of shoe models that are attractive and hip.

Canadian agency cites foodservice negligence

TORONTO -- In a blistering critique of foodservice operators in Canada, a major health and safety agency here charged in an annual report that mast operators view employee safety as a distraction and inconvenience.

"Health and safety is not a priority," according to the Ontario Service Safety Alliance. "Instead, employers emphasize speed and customer service. Staff is susceptible to firings and is largely viewed as disposable. It is also a work environment where violence and sexual harassment can easily occur.

"Over the past year, awareness about health and safety has increased, but in an industry driven by the clock and profit, there is still a long way to go before the health and safety of this largely so-called disposable workforce becomes a priority."

The Ontario Service Safety Alliance has no peer organization in the United States. Just 2 years old, the OSSA helps employers in five industrial segments --- including retailing and foodservice -- create safe work environments. The group usually comes on board a company after it already has received a poor safety evaluation from the Inspection Branch of the Ministry of Labor, Canada's version of the United States' Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Some of the criticisms heaped on Canadian foodservice operators also could be leveled against many American foodservice operators: namely, that restaurateurs have a hard time equating a safe work environment with improved profits.

"Health and safety often rank low on the list of priorities for some restaurant owners," the OSSA wrote. Their main concern is usually the health and safety of their customers.

"The path in the public area of the restaurant may be obstacle free, and any spills are immediately cleaned up. In the kitchen, however, there may be water on the floor, pieces of cardboard scattered about to soak up spills and boxes of vegetables in the way.

"Freezers with doors that swing into the path, servers carrying large trays in a crowded tense atmosphere, hot deep fryers and hot grills all combine to make the restaurant and foodservice industry a unique target for OSSA and health and safety campaigns."

Bill Boyle, director of consulting services for the OSSA, says companies have a hard time embracing a philosophy that views safety and health as a best practice that contributes to a company's overall performance.

"We look at health and safety as part of the overall health of the company," Boyle says. "If you have a good safety and health program, you most likely have good business practices and you probably have a good idea where your company is heading."

Boyle also argues that companies with high turnover rates are probably companies with a poor appreciation of healthful and safe work conditions.

In its report the OSSA said the rapid growth of the restaurant industry in Canada over the past few years is contributing to a modest increase in worker injuries as employers become less inclined to take proactive steps to stem the tide.

"Over 1 million Canadians rely an the foodservice industry, either directly or indirectly, making it the third-largest nongovernment employer in the country," the agency reported. "We must reach this large portion of the economy with health and safety information.

"Employees tend to work in foodservice on a part-time basis. Some are at school, and many are stay-at-home or single parents working part-time to supplement income. Others have a day job and work at a fast-food outlet to supplement their wages.

"This group is often at increased risk because of fatigue. Establishments tend to be open late and on statutory holidays and rarely provide benefits, such as sick days or dental or health plans. Since most workers don't have a strong safety net, they tend to return to work quickly after an illness or injury."

But the OSSA reported that even the calculus of running restaurants contributes to Canadian foodservice employee injuries.

"The profit motive in the foodservice industry remains tight," the agency reported. To succeed, the vast majority of restaurants and food chains keep wages low yet demand high production and sales from their staffs.

"Servers in most restaurants are paid minimum wage. They depend on tips for their livelihood. To maximize their tip income, they have to 'turn more tables,' which means they have to get people in, fed and out quickly so that they can free the table for the next customer. This puts the servers in competition with one another.

"It often makes them work harder, take few breaks, and try and serve as many people [as they can] at once by overfilling trays. This can impair vision by cutting down on the sight lines, throw them off balance, all of which increases the chances of injury."

Yet the OSSA offers some hope -- via at least one recommendation: "One solution may be to connect health and safety with the Server Intervention Program, a mandatory program dealing with serving alcohol that mast servers have to take for liability insurance. Since SIP delivers to a captive audience, there may be an opportunity to discuss health and safety issues."

COPYRIGHT 2000 Lebhar-Friedman, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group