The Golden Banana Peel Award?

Whenever we think about workplace accidents, it's typically the big ones that come to mind: Bones crushed in conveyor belts, fatal falls from construction scaffolding, or other horrible, but common calamities. Other options come from offices: catastrophic fires and freak elevator accidents. But the little accidents can be just as serious and as costly. In fact, according to Germany's Statutory Accident Insurance and Prevention Associations, almost 1,000 workers are injured due to slipping, tripping, and falling accidents every day, and such accidents cost the German economy €330 million ($420 million US) in 2001.

The German findings come from an accident safety and prevention campaign called Aktion Sicherer Auftritt or the "On the Right Foot Campaign." The campaign's goal was to reduce slipping, tripping, and falling accidents in the workplace by 15% over two years and to shed light on the causes of these types of accidents. Some of the more pertinent findings:

What solutions did the campaign suggest to remedy the problem? Warning about the dangers of slipping, tripping, and falling accidents in the workplace. The campaign organizers staged large events in major cities in Germany to take their message to workers and to the general public. They also organized tutorials and workshops in individual companies.

Interestingly, the latter had only limited success, even among safety personnel and supervisors who, one assumes, should know better. A devious method was employed to discover this shortcoming. A workshop for safety personnel was organized at two locations, and attendees were secretly observed and graded at a number of stations as they moved between the locations. The majority failed. But perhaps the most significant finding was that reducing slipping, tripping, and falling accidents may lie in simply providing concrete rewards for good behavior and providing penalties for bad behavior.

One can only imagine the Teutonic earnestness with which this campaign is now being carried out in workplaces across Germany:

Franz, an employee at the Mercedes in Stuttgart, walks up the stairs with a cup of coffee in his hand. His supervisor, Herr Schulz, watches him with disdain from the top of the stairs.

"Ja, Franz, zat eez not korrekt!"

"Vat do you mean, Herr Schulz?"

"Zis movement is not according to ze new protocol. Do eet again."

"Do vat again, Herr Schulz?"

"Valk up ze stairs again! Zis time leave ze koffee at ze bottom and hold onto ze railing!"

"But I vant to drink my koffee, Herr Schulz."

"Hmmm… zat poses a problem."

All joking aside, according to the campaign's organizers, the frequency and costs of slipping, tripping, and falling accidents in the workplace is proof enough that the issue needs to be addressed, and not just from an economic perspective.

So next time you're hurrying down the hallway or corridor, report in hand, or happily bounding up the stairs with your coffee, think again. In fact, if the organizers of the "On the Right Foot Campaign" are correct, you might even think about setting up an award forkorrekt conduct (from an accident prevention perspective) in your workplace. Perhaps – in honor of the bane of all cartoon villains – you might choose to call it the "Golden Banana Peel Award for the Prevention of Slipping, Tripping, and Falling Accidents." But that's only a suggestion.

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