New SafeWork SA initiative focuses on slip and trip risks in workplaces

SafeWork SA has launched a major awareness campaign on slip and trip risks, urging South Australian businesses to treat ground-level dangers as a genuine safety priority.

Slipping and tripping injure hundreds of people across the state, and the regulator wants employers acting before somebody gets hurt.

Campaign snapshot

• Name: ‘Safety at Work is a Serious job’
• Mascot: ‘Stanley the talking safety cone’, who delivers short prevention tips
• Focus: slip hazards, trip points, falls from heights and vehicle roll-aways
• Driving data: five fatalities plus 190-plus severe injuries recorded since 2022
• Goal: keep South Australians safe through simple, repeatable habits

New SafeWork SA initiative focuses on slip and trip risks in workplaces

South Australia’s workplace health and safety watchdog designed this campaign to cut through jargon. Stanley speaks directly to small business operators juggling compliance alongside daily operations, offering plain-language reminders rather than dense regulatory text.

Messaging targets moments where incidents actually happen: a spill left unattended, a cable stretched across a walkway, a step-down without lighting.

Why trip and slip exposure deserves serious attention

Regulator figures covering 2022 to 2025 show five deaths and more than 190 serious injuries tied to slipping and tripping in South Australian workplaces. Safe Work Australia likewise places falls, slips and trips among the most common mechanisms behind serious injury claims nationally — frequently cited as the second leading cause of workplace injury.

Falls are seldom freak accidents. Most trace back to obstructed access ways, damaged flooring, dim lighting and rushed timelines.

Industries facing the highest exposure

• Construction: temporary walkways, trailing leads, stockpiled materials and mud create hazardous ground conditions.
• Health services and aged care: liquid spills, rushed corridors and equipment cords endanger staff plus patients.
• Manufacturing: oil, coolant and product residue combine with forklift movement inside tight production spaces.
• Transport and logistics: loading docks, trailer decks and cab step-downs account for many height-related falls.

Eliminate hazards at the design stage

Strongest protection comes from designing risk out early. During the design stage of construction projects, planners can specify level walkways, permanent lighting, drainage and safe access routes long before trades mobilise.

Where elimination proves impractical, apply higher-order controls: barriers, edge protection, gentle ramps instead of a single step, plus slip-resistant matting at entry points.

Cleaning and housekeeping: your daily defence

Scheduled cleaning remains the most effective routine measure any business can implement.

• Respond to spills within minutes — prompt spot cleaning stops most incidents before they begin.
• Equip cleaning crews with barriers, cones and visible signage, not one lone warning sign at a corridor end.
• Match cleaning products to each flooring type; the wrong chemical leaves a slick film underfoot.
• On construction sites, program cleaning between trades so offcuts and packaging never accumulate.
• Log every cleaning round inside inspection records, creating evidence of due diligence.

What construction and manufacturing supervisors can do this week

• Walk each route with fresh eyes, marking trip points at thresholds, cable runs and matting edges.
• Repair broken flooring or failed lighting immediately, rather than adding jobs to a backlog.
• Maintain designated pedestrian paths through active construction zones, separated from plant movement.
• Confirm every worker knows how to report a hazardous condition and receives feedback once fixed.
• Review footwear specifications for slip resistance across kitchens, plant rooms and processing lines.
• Add trip prevention into toolbox talks, inductions and contractor briefings.

Documented systems support a stronger safety culture

Awareness messaging works best alongside written procedures. Inspection checklists, risk assessments and maintenance registers give supervisors consistent safety standards to apply, shift after shift, with an auditable trail for regulators.

Further reading and practical tools:

• SafeWork initiative focuses on enhancing safety at construction sites
• Budget investment of $127.7m enhancing worker protection
• How SafeWork SA programs improve workplace safety
• Plant and Equipment Register — track servicing for machinery sharing pedestrian routes
• Workplace Health and Safety Show

Key takeaway

From construction through manufacturing, hospitals to freight yards, fundamentals hold firm: tidy walkways, rapid spill response, sound lighting and reporting habits that reward early warnings. Adopting that mindset — exactly what Stanley repeats on every poster — protects people while lifting overall safety performance.

Find out more about this campaign at SafeWork SA, or review national injury statistics published by Safe Work Australia.