Falls Prevention

After a significant fall at home, leading to major shoulder reconstruction surgery, I’ve become super passionate about increasing our safety at home.  I wish I had read the article below many years ago, because I could have avoided this injury and subsequent surgery. The incident happened so quickly that it made me realise how vulnerable even young people are to injury at home.

Coming back from my daughter’s sleep out, I crossed a hardwood deck, which had become wet with recent rain.  It wasn’t noticeably slippery, and I had made that trip thousands of times.  However, on this occasion one moment I was standing, and the next I was on the floor in agony, having landed full force on my right shoulder. I wasn’t tired, hadn’t drunk alcohol, and was feeling in a good mood, so there were no obvious reasons why I should slip.  I have good core and peripheral muscle strength, and so in my mind, would be one of the least likely people to slip on a wooden deck.  In addition, multiple teenagers had made hundreds, if not 1000s of trips across the deck in a very rushed, careless manner, as is the nature of most teenagers, and no-one had ever fallen.

For all these reasons I was obviously too reassured that the deck was an area that I did not need to worry about.  However, this injury and surgery made me realise that anyone can fall and anyone can injure themselves greatly.  The fall also made me aware of the significant impact that having a major injury can have on our lives.

The statistics (from ACC, our NZ injury cover) regarding injuries at home are as follows:

• The costs of all injuries around the home in 2025 ytd: $1,190,333,265
• New injuries in 2025 ytd: 518,492

And statistics regarding falls are similar:

• The costs of all falls in 2025 ytd: $1,293,875,708
• New injuries: 425,676

So, in the rest of this article I’m going to summarise the areas of our home that are worth thinking about in terms of increasing safety.  Particular safety features really depend on the age and health of the people that reside in the home so not all the features listed below may be relevant.

For Toddlers/Babies:

• Protect sharp corners of furniture/benches
• Secure and protect door handles
• Keep houseplants, plastic bags and small items that are a choking/suffocation hazard out of reach
• Lock up matches and lighters
• Keep firearms, medicines and chemicals locked away
• Cover unused electrical sockets
• Keep electrical and blind cords out of children’s reach
• Use safety gates on stairs
• Cover doors and windows with guards if above ground level

For All Ages:

• Install non-slip mats in bathrooms
• Use bath steps to reduce height needing to step over when entering bath
• Keep floors free of liquids/mop up spills immediately
• Adjust hot water temperature to prevent burns
• Store heavy pantry items on lower shelves
• Clear walkways and hallways of clutter
• Protect sharp corners of benches and furniture
• Ensure appliances are well-maintained
• Turn pot handles away from the edge of the bench
• Don’t overload electrical sockets/circuits

For Older Adults/People with Disabilities:

• Use grab bars around baths and showers
• Consider shower stools in case feel faint

General Safety Tips:

• Install and maintain smoke detectors and fire-extinguishers
• Install non-slip treads on slippery surfaces
• Ensure carpets/rugs are not loose
• Don’t use gas heaters/run vehicles in areas with no ventilation
• Put a decorative feature on glass doors to prevent people walking into them
• Keep emergency contact list easily reached
• Maintain clear emergency exits
• Use protective gear for garden tool use
• Secure furniture to prevent tipping

In subsequent articles, I will discuss management of injuries from a holistic functional medicine perspective. In the meantime, please do not let this article contribute any degree of fear into your life, because the stress that results from fear can create its own health issues. Whilst we should be careful and implement some of the safety protection mechanisms listed above, please do not let it become an obsession, and/or impact your life negatively in any way.

See more Holistic Health Collective articles here.