3 ways to automate a slips, trips and falls risk assessment

#1 - Simple assessment

Who it's for: Single-site businesses recording the slips, trips and falls risk assessment themselves, where you know the building and just need a clear, structured record.

What it is: A slips, trips and falls risk assessment records each hazard that could cause someone to slip, trip or fall, the people it could harm, the controls in place, and any further action. This version is structured around the 10 areas a competent slips, trips and falls review covers: floor surfaces, spills and wet floors, cleaning routines, walkways and obstructions, trailing cables, steps and changes of level, lighting, footwear, outdoor areas and weather, and how hazards get reported and reviewed. Each area is a small group of three prompts written for that area. Floor surfaces and condition asks you to identify the floor surface hazards, decide who might be harmed and how, and evaluate the floor surface risks and decide on precautions; Steps, stairs and changes of level asks about handrail condition and who would struggle on a change of level; and so on through all 10, so every question tells you exactly what it's about. Keeping floors and traffic routes safe is a legal duty under the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, which applies to almost every workplace.

In practice: A warehouse operator works down the 10 areas. Under Spills and wet floors: the hazard (a leaking pallet near the loading bay), who's at risk (pickers and drivers crossing that spot), and the precautions (a wet-floor sign, an absorbent mat, the leak reported and the pallet moved). Under Trailing cables: the charging lead for the scanner dock confirmed run behind the bench, not across the main aisle. Three short answers per area, and the whole site gets covered.

Why it works: The 10 areas match where slips, trips and falls actually happen: the floor itself, what ends up on it or in the way, and the conditions around it, light, weather, footwear, not just the hazards someone happened to think of. And splitting each area into three prompts means nobody has to remember what a good answer contains; the structure asks for hazards, people, and precautions separately, which is what makes the record defensible.

Steps included:

• 10 assessment areas: the floor itself and what ends up on it (1-5) and the wider conditions that affect it (6-10)
• Each area is a group of 3 prompts written for it: identify the hazards, decide who might be harmed and how, evaluate the risks and decide on precautions

#2 - With guidance

Who it's for: Businesses where a manager, not a health and safety specialist, completes the assessment and needs the method in front of them.

What it is: The same 10 areas and three prompts, but each area's group now carries its own written guidance: why that area matters and what to check before you answer. The spills and wet floors group carries the prompts about response time and wet-floor signage; the steps group carries handrail condition and edge marking; the outdoor areas group carries gritting and matting before the weather turns.

What it adds to the simple assessment:

1. Guidance for every area, on screen exactly where you answer it
2. What to check before answering, not just a blank box
3. An assessment that's consistent whoever completes it

Why it works: Generic guidance at the top of a form gets skimmed once and forgotten by area 6. Guidance attached to each area gets read at the moment it's needed, so a manager who isn't a health and safety specialist still asks the right questions about wet-floor response times, handrail condition, and winter gritting.

Steps included:

• The 10 assessment areas, each a group of 3 prompts
• 10 guidance notes, one per area: why it matters and what to check

#3 - With photo evidence

Who it's for: Businesses that want visual proof of each area's condition alongside the written record.

What it is: The same 10 areas and three prompts, but each area's group now carries a photo step. As you assess each area you photograph it: the floor surface, the cleared walkway, the cable run, the gritted path outside. The record shows the condition of each area at the time, not just a description of it.

In practice: A shop's duty manager works through the assessment with their phone. At Floor surfaces and condition they photograph a cracked tile near the fitting room before it gets repaired; at Steps, stairs and changes of level, the handrail and the marked edge on the step down to the stockroom; at Outdoor areas and weather, the entrance mat and the gritted path on a frosty morning. Every answer now has a picture next to it.

What it adds to the simple assessment:

1. A photo per area, captured as you assess it
2. Proof of conditions that holds up to an inspector, not just a written claim
3. A visual baseline to compare against at the next review

Why it works: A written assessment says the walkway was clear; a photo shows it. When the assessment is reviewed next year, the photos also show what changed. And because the photo step sits with its area, the evidence files itself against the right risk instead of landing in a camera roll.

Steps included:

• The 10 assessment areas, each a group of 3 prompts
• 10 photo steps, one per area: the hazard or the control in place, captured at the time

How to pick the right version

You don't need to know our product to choose. Every version here is the same 10-area assessment; the additions change who can run it and what the record proves.

Do other people run the assessment?

If you run it yourself and know the method, the plain steps are enough: #1. The moment a manager who isn't a health and safety specialist does it, the guidance needs to be on screen next to each area: #2.

Do you need photo proof?

A written assessment meets the duty; photos show the actual condition of each area. If a written record is enough, #1 or #2. If you want the floor surfaces, the walkways, and the outdoor areas on camera next to their answers, #3.

Need both? Open the version that matters most in the playground and add the other's steps. That is how the product works anyway: every option here is the same assessment with steps added.

Related workflows

• Working at height risk assessment - the related fall-from-height risk
• Manual handling risk assessment - another recurring injury risk
• Two-stage cleaning - cleaning floors safely

Conclusion

Slips and trips are the most common cause of workplace injury, and almost all are preventable. A slips, trips and falls risk assessment is how you show you've covered the real hotspots, from floor surfaces and spills through to steps, lighting and outdoor areas, not just the ones that come to mind first. Every version above is the same 10 areas, each a group of three prompts; the additions put guidance or a photo inside every area's group. Pick the one your business needs and build on it in the playground.

→ Build your own slips, trips and falls risk assessment on Pilla.