A study has shown that Health and Safety Executive (HSE)-rated ultra-grip shoes could reduce injuries in NHS staff, if worn as a part of the uniform.
Slips and falls at the workplace account for >100,000 injuries in Britain annually, with loss of nearly one million workdays. Such events are most prevalent in the health and social care sector, partly because of smooth floors that frequently become wet or dirty.
Researcher at the University of York in collaboration with the HSE, Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust and the University of Leeds conducted a study across seven NHS Trusts, where half of the participating staff wore shoes with the HSE’s highest grip rating of 5* for 14 weeks and the other half wore shoes of their choice to work.
There was an overall 37 per cent reduction in slipping at work. The findings showed that staff members wearing the HSE 5* grip-rated shoes had a 49 per cent reduction in slipping at work.
Professor Andrew Curran, HSE Chief Scientific Adviser and Director of Research, said in a news release: “The findings show how appropriately specified footwear can be a cost-effective way to reduce slips and provides evidence to support their use in workplaces where it is not reasonably practicable to prevent floor surfaces becoming slippery.”
This article originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
