The Postal Service is launching an awareness campaign to help employees learn to avoid slips, trips and falls on the job.

According to the most recent data available, more than 18,600 employees were victims of these accidents during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2018.

Most slips, trips and falls involved letter carriers, and more than half of the accidents resulted in the victim missing more than one day of work. Approximately 30 percent of falls involved ice, while 26 percent involved stairs and 19 percent involved household hazards.

“Slip, trip and fall injuries are terrible and needless — and we all have a part to play in preventing them,” said USPS Safety Director Linda DeCarlo.

The awareness campaign will include National Slip, Trip and Fall Prevention Week (Oct. 26-Nov. 1), which will be dedicated to prevention activities and community outreach.

The campaign materials will include tips for employees and customers, as well as news releases, letters to newspaper editors, public service announcements and social media posts to help educate the public.

These materials will be available on the Safety Toolkit website.

The campaign will also highlight employees like Martha Walker, a Woodbridge, VA, letter carrier who was delivering mail recently when she fell into a hole hidden by tall grass on a customer’s property.

“It happened so fast, I sunk all the way down to my knee,” she said. “As a result I missed work and my favorite hobby, kayaking, for a while.”

Said DeCarlo: “Simple actions like reporting hazards and increasing awareness of your surroundings can help our employees prevent slip, trip and fall incidents and avoid tragedies.”

Source: USPS