Prevent Slips, Trips & Spills at Work

Slips, Trips & Spills: A Practical Guide to Fall Prevention in the Workplace

Slips, trips, and spills don’t just sideline people—they stall entire operations. According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), more than 44,000 workers suffer injuries due to falls each year—most of them from slips and trips on the same level. [KD1] Those are lives and livelihoods, and they’re also a reminder that fall prevention in the workplace is about more than compliance—it’s about taking care of your team and the customers who rely on you. At Lawson Products, we believe the safest facilities are built on resilient, everyday habits and reliable supplies. This post lays out a simple, proven framework that helps you engineer out hazards, keep walking paths obvious, and sustain a program that performs in real-world conditions across Canada.

Key takeaways on this blog:

●     Engineer out slips, trips, and spills with source control (sorbents/containment), safety mats, and cord/hoseline management.

●     Make safe paths obvious with durable floor marking, clear bilingual safety signage in English and French, and flagging for temporary hazards.

●     Sustain results with routine inspections, training, and reliable restocking—simplified by Lawson Managed Inventory.

●     Anchor your program to CCOHS resources and applicable Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) requirements; remember that while CCOHS offers guidance, enforcement of OHS laws in Canada is handled by federal and provincial/territorial governments and their labour departments.

Prevent: Engineer Out Hazards Before They Become Incidents

The most effective way to reduce fall risk is to stop hazards from forming in the first place. In Canada, CCOHS provides practical resources on housekeeping and walking–working surfaces, and employers must meet the requirements set out in applicable OHS legislation (federal or provincial/territorial). Enforcement of those regulations is carried out by the respective governments and their labour departments—CCOHS informs and educates; regulators enforce.

1. Control liquids at the source. In shops, warehouses, and maintenance bays, fluids are part of the job—but risk spikes when oil, coolant, or water reach walking paths. Stage sorbent pads and loose sorbents where liquids are stored and dispensed, and pair them with spill containment (berms, trays, drain covers) so slicks don’t spread. Label and stage spill kits with WHMIS SDS—Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System Safety Data Sheets, the standardized documents that detail hazards, handling, storage, required PPE, and first aid—for every controlled product you use (make them accessible in English and French). If you can name the fluid, you should be able to point to the matching absorbent, containment, and WHMIS SDS—turning a slip hazard into a quick, routine cleanup.
   
   
2. Stabilize workstations with safety mats. Where people stand to perform repetitive tasks—inspection benches, packing lines, service counters—safety mats earn their keep twice: they add traction to help prevent slips and improve comfort to reduce fatigue. Match surfaces to conditions—aggressive textures for oily floors, scraper-style at entrances to capture moisture and debris, and anti-fatigue mats for long periods on the line—and rotate/clean them on a schedule so they continue to perform. In wet seasons, extend matting at exterior doors to keep water from tracking into aisles.
   
   
3. Tame cords and hoses. Few things create more preventable trips than a cable across a walkway or a hose snaking between work areas. Use cable protection systems for any necessary crossovers, route air and fluid lines along walls or overhead, and create dedicated “parking” for mobile equipment so charging cables and power leads aren’t improvised across traffic lanes. If a temporary line is unavoidable, cover it, mark it, and remove it promptly once the task ends. These small engineering choices eliminate common trip points and keep people moving safely.

Mark: Make Safe Paths Obvious

Preventing hazards is step one; making safe movement visible is step two. Visual management turns a clean, orderly floor into a deliberate navigation system that cues safe behaviour at a glance. Clear marking tape, safety signage, and temporary flagging tape help you uphold OHS expectations in dynamic environments.

1. Define aisles and zones. Use durable floor striping and marking tape to distinguish pedestrian lanes, forklift routes, and staging areas. Colour-code for clarity—one colour for travel lanes, another for keep-outs around machinery, and high-visibility markings for emergency equipment. In areas exposed to chemicals, abrasion, or heavy traffic, consider high-bond tapes or epoxy-based striping for longevity. When the floor tells people where to walk and where not to, you reduce near-misses before they become incidents.
   
   
2. Signal temporary and fixed hazards with bilingual signage. Even in the most disciplined facilities, conditions change. Deploy “Slippery floor” signs the moment moisture hits the ground and leave them up until the surface is truly dry. Use “Trip hazard” signs when you can’t eliminate a raised threshold or temporary cord, and apply flagging tape for short-duration tasks. Use English and French safety signage to support comprehension and compliance across the workforce. The key is speed and placement: put the sign before the hazard, at a height and angle people can’t miss.
   
   
3. Make entrances work for you. Entrances bring the outside world in—seasonal moisture, sand, and leaves all show up at your doors and then ride shoes into aisles. Combine high-performance entrance mats with clear signage and a short “transition zone” of floor marking that reminds people to slow down and step carefully. If you use automatic doors or air curtains, sync their timing and airflow to reduce tracked-in moisture.

Maintain: Keep the Program Alive

A fall-prevention program is only as strong as its daily rhythm. Canadian OHS regulators expect employers to maintain safe walking–working surfaces through ongoing inspection, repair, and housekeeping. That’s where a sustainable routine and dependable stocking come in.

1. Inspect, restock, and train on a cadence. Assign ownership for quick visual checks at the start and end of each shift: are mats seated and clean, are sorbents topped up, are trip hazard and slippery floor signs easy to grab? Keep a simple log for recurring issues so you can engineer out root causes. Build short, quarterly refreshers into your EHS calendar so new team members learn what “good” looks like and seasoned employees get a quick reset. Training doesn’t need to be long to be effective; it needs to be consistent and actionable.
   
   
2. Plan for Canadian seasonality. Winter introduces special challenges—especially in snowier, wet-winter provinces such as British Columbia (coastal regions), Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Pre-stage ice-melt/traction granules at exterior doors, extend and rotate matting to capture slush and road salt, and set up drying/containment zones near entrances and loading docks. In shoulder seasons and rain events, add extra signage and swap to scraper-style entrance mats to cut down on tracked-in moisture.
   
   
3. Lean on inventory support. Nothing stalls a cleanup like an empty spill kit. Lawson Managed Inventory helps you keep essentials—absorbents/sorbents, spill containment supplies, marking tape, flagging tape, bilingual safety signage, and safety mats—at the right levels so you’re ready every day, not just the day after a near-miss. Bin labels, min/max settings, and scheduled reviews remove guesswork and help you adapt to seasonal or production changes.

When a checklist helps, keep it short and practical. For example:

●     Walk all entrances daily: verify mats, check for tracked-in moisture, and place slippery floor signs during wet periods.

●     Scan aisles for cords/hoses; reroute or cover anything crossing a path.

●     Confirm spill-response points are stocked and visible; replace any used absorbents immediately (ensure WHMIS SDS are accessible for all controlled products).

●     Review floor markings weekly; touch up or replace worn tape before it fails.

Standards & Resources: The Canadian OHS Framework

For a clear anchor, look to CCOHS for guidance on housekeeping and walking–working surfaces, and ensure your program aligns to the OHS legislation that applies to your operations. In Canada, CCOHS provides resources, information, and guidance, while enforcement of OHS regulations is handled by federal and provincial/territorial governments and their labour departments (e.g., the Canada Labour Code, Part II for federally regulated workplaces, and provincial/territorial OHS acts administered by bodies such as WorkSafeBC, Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, CNESST in Québec, etc.). Build your safety to meet these expectations, and you’ll reduce incidents while creating a repeatable system that protects your people and your uptime.

Why Lawson

Our approach is simple: give teams dependable products, keep them stocked, and back it with people who care. Lawson’s portfolio covers the essentials that make fall prevention real on the floor—sorbents and absorbents, spill containment solutions, durable marking tape and striping options, highly visible bilingual safety signage and flagging tape, and tough safety mats designed for the environments you work in. We test for performance and reliability so you don’t have to. And with Lawson Managed Inventory, you get the right items in the right places, replenished on time, so a safe choice is always the easy choice.

Most importantly, we meet you where you are. If you need a quick consult to set up spill-response points (with the right WHMIS SDS on hand), we can do that. If you want to rethink your floor marking to handle new traffic patterns, we’ll help design a clear, colour-coded plan. If your near-miss log shows repeat trip hazards, we’ll help you route, cover, or eliminate them. It’s resilience in action: a partnership that keeps your operations moving and your people heading home safe at the end of every shift.

Ready to build a safer floor? Let’s put a safety program in place that aligns with CCOHS guidance and your applicable OHS regulations—federal or provincial/territorial—and fits your facility. Talk to a Lawson representative in Canada about a fall-prevention kit and a managed inventory plan tailored to your entrances, aisles, and workstations. Together, we’ll engineer out hazards, keep paths clear, and sustain a culture of safety you can see underfoot.