Guide to Assist Employers With Trip Fall Prevention

To help employers reduce and ultimately eliminate slips, trips and falls that continue to occur in workplaces, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), recently announced the availability of a compendium including slip, trip, and fall prevention standards and a technical report from their catalogs.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), floors, walkways and ground surfaces were the source of injury and illness for 18% of all days away from work cases in 2006. Also, in 2006, 770 workers died due to falls, a 5% increase since 2005. Slip, trip, and loss of balance injuries without falls accounted for 35,440 non-fatal injuries and falls on the same level accounted for 151,750 non-fatal injuries in 2006.

The compendium includes: “Safety Requirements for Workplace Walking/Working Surfaces and Their Access,” (ANSI/ASSE A1264.1-2007); “Standard for the Provision of Slip Resistance on Walking/Working Surfaces,” (ANSI/ASSE A1264.2-2006); “Technical Report for Using Variable Angle Tribometers (VAT) for Measurement of the Slip Resistance of Walkway Surfaces,” (ANSI/ASSE TR-A1264.3-2007); “Safety Requirements for Temporary Roof and Floor Holes, Wall Openings, Stairways and Other Unprotected Edges in Construction and Demolition Operations,” (ANSI/ASSE A10.18-2007); “Standard Practices for Safe Walking Surfaces,” (ASTM F1637-07); “Standard Guide for Composing Walkway Surface Evaluation and Incident Report Forms for Slips, Stumbles, Trips and Falls,” (ASTM F1694-96, R2004); “Standard Guide for Ranking Footwear Bottom Materials on Contaminated Walkway Surfaces According to Slip Resistance Test Results,” (ASTM F1240-01); “Standard Guide for Selection of Certain Walkway Surfaces When Considering Footwear Traction,” (ASTM F802-83, R2003); as well as ANSI/ASSE A1264.1-1955 (R2002), ANSI/ASSE A1264.2-2001 and ANSI A10.18-1996 standards as historic documents.

ASSE and ASTM note that the standards included in the compendium are effective as standalone documents, their intent is to provide employers with a comprehensive package addressing the issue of slips, trips and falls in the workplace.

For more information on the compendium visit this link.

New Standard Provides for Assessment of Potential for Vapor Intrusion into Structures

Vapor intrusion from contaminated soil and groundwater into structures can potentially create significant liability and have a material impact on property value. Because of this, accurately determining whether a property has vapor intrusion issues is a concern for property owners, prospective purchasers and environmental professionals conducting due diligence.

ASTM International Committee E50 on Environmental Assessment has now approved a new standard, E 2600, Practice for Assessment of Vapor Intrusion into Structures on Property Involved in Real Estate Transactions, which will provide guidance for vapor intrusion testing. The standard is under the jurisdiction of Subcommittee E50.02 on Real Estate Assessment and Management.

Anthony J. Buonicore, chair of ASTM Task Group E50.02.06 on Vapor Intrusion, says E 2600 defines good commercial and customary practice for conducting a vapor intrusion assessment on a property parcel involved in real estate transactions.

“The specific intent was to establish a methodology to determine whether or not there is a reasonable probability that vapor intrusion could present an environmental risk and liability,” says Buonicore. For commercial real estate transactions, Buonicore notes that the vapor intrusion investigation, as defined by E 2600, could be used independently of, or as a supplement to, E 1527, Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process.

The evaluation process, as described in E 2600, consists of four tiers. The first two screening tiers are used to assess the potential for a vapor intrusion issue to exist, so that properties with a low risk can be screened out quickly and inexpensively. The third tier provides for more site-specific and comprehensive investigations if the potential for vapor intrusion cannot reasonably be eliminated at the Tier 1/Tier 2 levels while Tier 4 addresses mitigation alternatives.

According to Buonicore, because timeliness may be more important than investigation or mitigation costs during real estate transactions, an E 2600 user does not need to proceed sequentially through the tiers in the standard.

“In most cases, however, it is expected that it would be more cost effective and sufficient time would be available in the real estate transaction to conduct at a minimum a Tier 1 screening evaluation and, if necessary, a Tier 2 screening evaluation before proceeding to a more costly and time-consuming Tier 3 investigation or to Tier 4 mitigation,” says Buonicore. He also notes that the process described in E 2600 is designed to complement existing federal and state vapor intrusion policies or guidance.

“ASTM was selected as the best venue to develop the standard because of ASTM’s internationally recognized consensus-based process that has been used so successfully over the years,” says Buonicore. “ASTM is able to bring together stakeholders representing all sides of an issue and work with them to achieve consensus.”

ASTM International standards can be purchased from customer service (phone: 610-832-9585).