Sliptember highlights the £1bn+ annual problem of slip-and-fall accidents, whilst giving away £50,000 of free slip tests

(Spin Digit Editorial):- London, United Kingdom Sep 1, 2021 (Issuewire.com) – Today, Christian Harris, the UK’s slip safety expert, launches Sliptember – a campaign to raise awareness of slip safety throughout September; calls for annual slip testing to become a legal obligation for commercial and public buildings, and puts his money where his mouth is by offering £50,000 of free slip tests.

Each year in the UK, 300,000+ people attend A&E after a slip-and-fall accident. This results in over 1.5m NHS bed days. In most sectors, slips-and-falls are the largest cause of an accident, injury, and insurance claims to both employees and members of the public. AXA Insurance alone spends £80m on slip accident insurance claims each year, suggesting the total UK claims costs exceed £1bn. But, as HSE points out, “hidden”, uninsured costs of accidents can range from 8-36x the insured costs – hitting companies’ bottom lines directly.

Not to mention the huge human costs. With hundreds of thousands of people injured, this impacts millions of Britons each year. Whilst many slips are less serious, 90% of serious slips result in broken bones; there are around a dozen amputations each year after a slip; serious brain injuries are common, and deaths happen too. For example, Christian personally became involved in the case of Stanley May, who tragically passed away after slipping into a Co-Op store in Truro in 2015.

Sliptember seeks to address three common misconceptions:

• Slips are more serious than most think
• Slips are more costly than most think
• Slips are more complex than most think

Sliptember’s three goals:

• Challenge the misperception that slips are inevitable, simple-to-solve, and even funny
• Promote the proven science of slip prevention, which typically sees 50%+ reductions in accidents
• Encourage government to legislate slip testing as an annual requirement in buildings in the UK

Anyone interested in safety and risk management is encouraged to learn more and support the campaign by visiting www.slipsafety.co.uk/sliptember

About Christian Harris: Founder and CEO of Slip Safety Services and host of the Safety And Risk Success Podcast, Christian Harris has helped thousands of clients to reduce slip-and-fall accidents, injuries, and claims by 50%+ over the last decade. Called “one of the UK’s leading slip safety experts” by the BBC and featured in titles such as Entrepreneur, Linkedin, and Insurance Times, Christian regularly speaks on safety and risk topics for organisations including IOSH, Airmic, AXA Insurance.

About Slip Safety Services: supporting blue-chip brands like CBRE, IHG, and Legoland, Slip Safety Services is best known for helping its clients to drive down slip risk and reduce accidents, injuries, and insurance claims payouts. At last count, the business was stopping around £10m of claim costs a year.

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