Falls, slips some of costliest injuries for restaurant and bar industry: WorkSafeBC

The costliest injuries for B.C restaurants, bars, and pubs are slips, falls, and trips, according to data from WorkSafeBC.

They say that many of these incidents are preventable.

Barry Nakahara, senior manager of prevention field services at WorkSafeBC, says it all starts with awareness, adding there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.

“It starts with awareness. That’s why we put these releases out to let the workers in that industry know the extent of the problem so that they can start the discussions and the problem solving at their workplace,” said Nakahara.

WorkSafeBC notes that those injuries are the “costliest workplace incidents” in the service industry.

“I think the problems are within the restaurants and establishments themselves, where you have busy congested areas layouts that maybe are not conducive to the traffic flow of the workers,” Nakahara said. “And so there’s a number of things that can be done, from an employer’s perspective, to look at how to minimize these risks.”

“20 per cent of all injuries across B.C. are slip trip and fall related. So anywhere there’s people walking, carrying I’m moving across whether it’s flat or uneven surfaces, there’s a potential for slips, trips and falls,” he added.

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WorkSafeBC says between 2017 and last year, these injuries cost the service industry more than $20 million in compensation claims.

“There’s a number of factors that contribute to the claim costs,” said Nakahra.”Your number of injuries is one, but the time it takes to bring people back to work if if they break an ankle, or something that prevents them from doing their original job, it gets challenging, and that’s where some of the costs add up and can be amplified.”

According to WorkSafeBC, 11,000 British Columbians are injured by slipping, tripping, and falling in the workplace.

“Across all industries, slips, trips, and falls, are the costliest workplace incidents, resulting in more than 260,000 lost workdays and more than $206 million in workers’ compensation payments,” WorkSafeBC said a statement.

Nakahara says workers and their places of businesses need to start having the conversation now about this problem.

“I feel that the prudent thing to do is for employers and workers to start talking about this. And then for people who want to learn more about it, we have a number of resources on preventing slips, trips and falls in the workplace.”

WorkSafeBC tips on how to avoid trips and falls in the workplace can be found on their website.