Slip-resistant footwear reduces slips among National Health Service workers in England: a randomised controlled trial.

Assess the effectiveness of 5* GRIP-rated slip-resistant footwear in preventing slips in the workplace compared to usual footwear (control group). A multicentre, randomised controlled trial; 4553 National Health Service (NHS) staff were randomised 1:1 to the intervention group (provided with 5* GRIP-rated slip-resistant footwear) or the control group. The primary outcome of incidence rate of self-reported slips in the workplace over 14 weeks was analysed using a mixed-effects negative binomial model. Secondary outcome measures included incidence rate of falls from a slip, falls not from a slip, proportion of participants reporting a slip, fall or fracture and time to first slip and fall. 6743 slips were reported: 2633 in the intervention group (mean 1.16 per participant, range 0 to 36) and 4110 in the control group (mean 1.80 per participant, range 0 to 83). There was a statistically significant reduction in slip rate in the intervention group relative to the control group (incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.63, 95% CI 0.57 to 0.70, p<0.001). Statistically significant differences, in favour of the intervention group, were observed in falls from a slip (IRR 0.51, 95% CI 0.28 to 0.92, p=0.03), the proportion of participants who reported a slip (OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.66, p<0.001) or fall (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.54 to 0.99, p=0.04) and time to first slip (HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.67 to 0.80, p<0.001). The offer and provision of 5* GRIP-rated footwear reduced slips in NHS staff in the workplace. ISRCTN33051393.

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© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Competing interests: CH declares membership of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Commissioning Committee 2015-2020 and previous membership of the HTA commissioning sub-board (EOI) 2016-2017. DJT declares that he is Director of York Trials Unit, which receives clinical trials unit (CTU) funding from the NIHR, has previously been a member of various HTA commissioning boards and was a member of the CTU Standing Advisory Committee 2010-2014. GF, ML and MZ declare that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) run the GRIP-rating scheme, which was used to identify the footwear/manufacturer used in the trial, and that Shoes for Crews Ltd paid the HSE for testing of footwear under the GRIP-rating scheme. SC, CF, GF, ML, RC-B, MZ, CH, HMI-S, LG and DJT declare that part of their salary costs were covered by the NIHR grant.