Whenever I go to see my doctor for anything from routine checkups to back pain issues, I’m always asked if I’ve had any falls. A few years ago, I took a “little” fall and landed on my left shoulder…I thought nothing of it until the pain wouldn’t go away after a good 3 or 4 days. It ended up that this little fall was the proverbial “straw-that-breaks-the-camel’s-back.” Turns out that I had banged & bumped my shoulder for years both in the military and doing things like weightlifting and playing sports. This “little fall” knocked out the last bit of shoulder tendons and caused me to have emergency surgery (and this was during the pandemic when anything that was deemed “routine surgeries” were being canceled) to reconstruct my rotator cuff.
I started doing research about falls and it dawned on me why the medical community is concerned enough about them that they now always ask you about it whenever you pay a visit to the doctors. Turns out that falls are right up there, close behind motor vehicle accidents, that end up killing people.
In 2013, according to the National Safety Council, falls killed 29,500 people and motor vehicle accidents, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, killed 32,709 people. I come to find out that falls will kill more people than leukemia (21,840), homicides (16,121), cocaine overdoses (4,944) and the list goes on…
The list of ordinary things that cause falls is frighteningly long…stair treads that aren’t big enough or that are not “uniformed” in their measurements, lack of handrails, excess carpeting/padding on stair treads, non-graspable handrails, narrow & steep stairwells, outdoor decks that have single, “step-up” sections, un-lighted stairs or stairs that don’t warn of a change in direction…these are only a few of the things that come to the top of my mind.
So, what’s the remedy for avoiding these little and big falls from occurring in our buildings? The number one remedy is knowing and acknowledging where these risk factors are and dealing with them. As an
example : I spotted a stairway that had its treads covered with thick carpeting that was also very loose and moveable – simple solution was to either remove and replace that carpeting with less thick carpeting or to remove the carpeting and redo that staircase with anti-slip coverings. It’s easy to cancel your trip to the emergency room if you cancel your “trip to the falls.”
When you see our inspection report and it calls out these issues don’t just think this is nit-picking or being overly cautious – take care of them, most projects of this type are simple DIY endeavors than anyone can accomplish with a little elbow grease and knowledge!
Comments