By Celeste McLaughlin, Ergonomics Manager Solutions Northwest, Inc.
There are many tips for stair safety, a link to OSHA’s guidelines are above. But what about the way stairs look? Does that have anything to do with stair safety? Below are two pictures. Picture number one was taken at my house. Picture number two is in a government building. The government building procedure required me to have an escort, so I asked my escort to stop so I could take a picture of the stairs. He was a good sport about it and even offered to pretend to fall down the stairs. Those are his feet in the picture. Now that I’ve explained the mysterious feet in the picture, I have a question for you.
Question: What do both of these sets of stairs have in common?
Answer: If you guessed that the safety element both of these staircases have in common is the change of colors outlining the steps, you are a genius. Nice job. Having a visual separation between each step makes stairs safer. This can be done with grip strips, safety tape, different color of building materials, different tile design, etc.
Have you ever been in a building where there were steps which you didn’t see at first, at least you didn’t see them until you tripped over them? If the steps had visual clues integrated into them, you probably wouldn’t have tripped unless there were martinis involved.
In conclusion, stay educated.
Being educated in common office safety hazards will help prevent work related injuries. To learn more about work safety issues, visit us at SolutionsNW.com or Contact Us for more information.
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