TY - JOUR PY - 2021// TI - A basic survey ascertaining details related to falls on stairs or escalators [conference abstract] JO - Injury prevention A1 - Hilton, Deborah SP - A70 EP - A71 P4.012 VL - 27 IS - Suppl 2 N2 - Virtual Pre-Conference Global Injury Prevention Showcase 2021 - Abstract Book - # P4.012 Background The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare state that falls account for 41% of all hospitalised injuries. In Melbourne City, at various train stations there are extremely long escalators and alarmingly one sign previously displayed states there are approximately 2-3 falls/week. Methods A general convenience survey [n=125] was distributed to ascertain the percentage of people who've fallen down stairs and/or escalators. Additional questions related to rain, high risk footwear, poor lighting and how many falls they have had. Following on from that regardless of whether or not they'd had a fall, survey participants were asked about fear of falling and/or whether they felt uncomfortable around crowds on stairs or escalators. Results 82 survey forms were returned. 29% of people had fallen, with 16% of those people indicating rain, 16% in either high heels or thongs, while 25% indicated poor visibility. of those whom had fallen the estimate of the number of falls down stairs or escalators ranged from 1-20, with the average being 3 falls. 39% of respondents irrespective of whether or not they had fallen had a fear of falling, while 43% felt uncomfortable around crowds. The age groups were 33% [20-29 yrs], 8% [30-39 yrs], 17% [40-49 yrs], 19% [50-59 yrs] and 23% [older than 60 yrs]. Conclusion Falls down stairs or escalators is relatively common, in addition to a large percentage of people having a fear or feeling uncomfortable. Learning Outcomes Crowd control at events should include supervisors near stairs or escalators.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1353-8047 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2021-safety.215 ID - ref1 ER -