AN IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATION OF 40 STAIRWAY ACCIDENTS AND THE STAIR SAFETY LITERATURE

Each year thousands of people trip, stumble, and/or fall on stairs. This paper reviews prominent literature on stairway safety, and discusses findings from a preliminary survey of 40 in-depth stair accident cases. Variables reviewed and discussed include personal/demographic, external, and dimensional. From these findings and those of other researchers, it is hypothesized that the greatest problem with accident stairways is not individual (i.e., user) or external variables, but dimensional inconsistency inherent in some stairways. Areas for future research are also discussed.