Slips, Trips, and Falls Traditional Cache

This cache is located at beautiful Seal Point Park in San Mateo. Dogs and bicycles are welcome. The cache is small so please bring your own pen, and while you’re here you might as well get 4 or 5 more finds along the way. Seal Point Park offers some of the most spectacular views of San Francisco Bay, and is a prime spot to watch the planes coming in to SFO.

The workers of the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC), Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (UPWT), and the Arc Jet Complex at NASA Ames Research Center have made the prevention of Slips, Trips, and Falls a priority in their workplace. They know that Slips, Trips, and Falls are one of the leading causes of workplace injuries, and have developed interesting techniques to prevent Slips, Trips, and Falls on a daily basis.

One of these interesting methods was the presentation to Safety Committee members of a video that recently appeared on You Tube entitled "The Line of Failure." The video consists of 4 minutes and 6 seconds of people tripping and falling over the same curb. We don't know the timeframe between each fall, but we can still ask ourselves why? and how? this could happen. The video can be painful to watch, so please use discretion. The link is below.

The Line of Failure

Where should you begin your slip, trip, and fall, risk assessment in your workplace? Something to take into consideration is that the chance of a slip, trip, or fall injury will increase with the number of opportunities there are to slip, trip, and fall. For example, if you have a trip and fall hazard on a busy street, and a similar trip and fall hazard on a street that is not busy, more trips and falls can be expected to happen on the busy street. However, a dark area with a serious slip, trip, or fall hazard, may cause a slip, trip, or fall to nearly every person that enters the area.

The workers at NFAC, the UPWT, and the Arc Jet Complex also use written Safety Observation Reports (SOR's) to identify slip, trip, and fall hazards in their workplace. Ideally the worker will be able to correct the hazard and use the SOR to report that the hazard existed, and what type of corrective action was put in place. When the hazard is not easily correctible, management will act quickly to delegate resources to the hazard and ensure that interim measures are in place. It's important to document hazards that were easily correctable so that the lessons learned can be shared with other employees.

Where are some good places to look for "The Lines of Failure" in your workplace? One way to begin is to develop a list of all previous slips, trips, and falls in your workplace and ensure that any previously identified problems have been addressed. Other places to focus on are:

- Parking lots
- Sidewalks
- Hallways
- Around desks
- Dark areas

Please be careful as you approach this cache today. It's entitled Slips, Trips, and Falls for a reason. You'll need to plan the final 3 steps very carefully. Don't forget to take a minute and enjoy the view from this spot. It's one of the best in the Bay Area.

This is cache 6 of 6 in the "Beyond Safety" series of safety themed caches. Any geocaching slip, trip, and fall safety tips, stories, or pics that you can share are appreciated and may be used in an upcoming safety presentation at Ames Research Center.

Beyond Safety - Cache 1 of 6 - Hearing Conservation
Beyond Safety - Cache 2 of 6 - Eye and Face Protection
Beyond Safety - Cache 3 of 6 - Voluntary Protection Program
Beyond Safety - Cache 4 of 6 - BZ Walking Club
Beyond Safety - Cache 5 of 6 - Earthquake Preparedness
Beyond Safety - Cache 6 of 6 - Slips, Trips, and Falls

Congratulations - You've found the entire "Beyond Safety" cache series!