The dangers of stairs

Don’t be fooled by its ordinary appearance; Stairs are a serious hazard causing more than a thousand deaths each year. Obviously, the danger posed by stairs is to fall. However, damage can vary widely based on a number of factors, from the direction you are heading to how high you were when you fell.

Falls are one of the main reasons people have to go to the hospital, and stairs are the main place where people fall. However, with a few precautions, you can mitigate your chances of falling or being seriously injured if you fall.

Who is most at risk?

Unsurprisingly, the people most at risk for a serious fall on stairs are the elderly and young children. However, secondary groups such as pregnant women, the immunosuppressed, those with poor vision or balance, and hemophiliacs should also take special care on stairs.

Simple steps to reduce risk

There are many small risk-reducing steps you can take in your own home and sometimes on other stairs that can reduce the risk of a fall.

• Install Guardrails – Guardrails not only allow you to have something to hold on to should you start to fall, but they also give you a guide to follow if visibility is low.
• Light your stairs well – By lighting them well, you reduce the likelihood of someone tripping because they cannot see properly. Keep night lights near steps for night use.
• Never leave anything on the stairs – teach children to keep toys off the steps and make sure not to put their own clutter on the steps to ensure a clear path.
• If you can, avoid going up or down dangerously large or heavy things down the stairs. It is very easy to trip, fall, and not be able to recover if you focus on an unwieldy box or cabinet. If you must go up and down stairs with difficult objects, ask a partner to help you, even if it seems a bit silly.

Construction and maintenance of stairs

Don’t assume ladders are safe just because they’re accessible or because you haven’t fallen down yet. Before using the stairs, check to see if they are worn or smooth in any way – this can make them slippery and difficult to put a secure footing on, and stairs that are slightly worn are less obvious but just as dangerous as heavily worn ones. A difference in stair depth requires much more concentration and should not be taken lightly. Do the ladders meet building codes? Building codes are a minimum level of safety standards, so it is to be expected that the stairs you find will exceed these codes. Avoid wet or icy stairs if possible, and keep one hand on the handrail if it is not possible to avoid such dangerous stairs altogether.

Be save.