Forty people died and £800 million were lost across all industry sectors due to slips, trips and falls at work in 2009.

The fact that such incidents remain the most common cause of major work-related injuries has prompted the HSE to relaunch its Shattered Lives campaign, which was originally unveiled two years ago. Although some of the figures have improved slightly since then – the 40 deaths in 2008/09 represented a decrease of 21 on the previous year’s figure – the number of major injuries due to slips, trips and falls is continuing to rise, as is the overall cost to society (up from £700 million in 2007/08).

The new phase of the campaign, which includes a revamped Shattered Lives website, features new information on how to easily and cost-effectively reduce the risk of slips, trips and falls in the workplace, and studies of what other organisations have done to this end. The site also includes an online tool called STEP and a work-at-height access equipment toolkit (WAIT).

The campaign is targeted at those sectors in which there is a high number of slips, trips and falls incidents each year, specifically: health and social care, education, food manufacturing, food retail, catering and hospitality, building and plant maintenance, and construction.

The figures above 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 also cause many serious injuries every year The 40 deaths caused by slips, trips and falls could have been prevented by proper risk assessments and control measures. These can quite often be simple and cost effective and can help manage slip, trip and fall hazards in their workplace