Case Study

During a Curtin organized event held this year, a spill was discovered on the floor, which
although quickly cleaned up, resulted in a visitor to the event slipping on the wet floor. She
sustained knee and ankle pain and although no head injury was received, she became
unconscious. Staff in the area responded in a timely manner to assist. An investigation into the
incident provided the following recommendations;
 ensure signage is included as part of the event risk assessment
 ensure staff and volunteers are informed of the location of the ‘wet floor’ signs and when to
use them.
It is important if you are planning an event or improving housekeeping in your workplace to
consider all stages of the process;
 What equipment and tools are required for the job?
- Signage must be required after a clean up or it must be wiped immediately with a dry
mop to prevent accidents.
 Will signage be necessary?
- It is important to use signage to alert people that there is possibility that the floor is wet or
slippery. It prevent from causing accident.
 Do you need to dispose of equipment, electrical goods and hazardous waste?
- Yes, if this equipment, and electrical goods are no longer use or broken, to prevent
accident and there is proper disposal of hazardous waste.
 How will you provide information to all staff and/or volunteers?
- In a housekeeping department, every staff or volunteers must know every single detail
about the possible cause of accident in their area and how to respond quickly. To sum all
of it, every staff have a responsibility or task in their designated area to work on
especially at this point that they have an event.