Everyday tasks like using the stairs, walking through the warehouse, or stepping onto a loading dock shouldn’t put workers at risk. Yet trips, slips, and falls are consistently one of the leading causes of workplace injuries.
Simple issues like uneven flooring, cluttered walkways, damaged steps, or missing guardrails often contribute to these incidents. These walking-working surface hazards are usually visible and preventable when employers know what to look for.
OSHA’s five-question walking-working surfaces checklist is designed to help employers quickly evaluate the safety of their floors, stairs, ladders, platforms, and walkways, and take practical steps to address problems before they turn into injuries, claims, or OSHA concerns.
SafeDE consultants can also help you apply this checklist to your specific environment through a free, confidential consultation.
Walking-working surfaces include any horizontal or vertical surface used by an employee for walking, working, or accessing a work area. These surfaces are among the most common sources of workplace slips, trips, and falls.
In Delaware, employers are expected to follow federal OSHA standards and applicable state guidance related to workplace safety, training, and hazard prevention.
This checklist gives employers a simple, consistent way to identify and correct hazards before they turn into injuries, workers’ compensation claims, or OSHA concerns.
Use these five questions as a quick safety check for your workplace:
1. Cleanliness & Order
Are all places of employment, passageways, storerooms, service rooms, and walking-working surfaces kept clean, orderly, and sanitary?
2. Wet Surfaces
Are wet surfaces covered or treated with slip-resistant materials?
3. Common Hazards
Are walking-working surfaces maintained free of hazards such as sharp or protruding objects, loose boards, corrosion, leaks, spills, snow, and ice?
4. Load Capacity
Are walking-working surfaces designed and maintained to support their maximum intended loads?
5. Safe Access
Are employees provided with a safe means of access and egress to and from walking-working surfaces?
SafeDE consultants can help you turn this checklist into a consistent inspection process and strengthen employee training, at no cost and with no fines, fees, or citations.
SafeDE offers free consultation services to help Delaware businesses understand environmental health and safety (EHS) requirements and improve workplace safety. These consultations help employers:
There is no cost to participate and no budget approval required. Businesses simply need to take the first step.