Engineering: Home, by accident or design

 

UK home design could cause accidents, a new study claims.

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In the UK, a staggering three million hospital visits occur following accidents in the home, with over a million of those due to a trip, slip or fall, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of accidents. Around three thousand of these prove fatal.
 
Now, research published in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution suggests that the very design of UK houses could make accidents more likely.
 
According to David Ormandy, Principal Research Fellow in Law at the University of Warwick, you are twenty times more likely to have an accident at home than you are to win the lottery.
 
The team at Warwick devised a study that considers frequency and severity of particular types of accidents to gain a picture, and reached the conclusion that - while human behaviour is a major factor - house design and condition contribute much more than previously thought.

Paying attention to design details

"We expect our homes to be a place of safety for us and our families but injuries from home accidents and even deaths are a major, but under-rated, public health problem and certainly an under-rated housing problem," Ormandy commented.
 
The research highlights the potential for paying attention to the design of elements such as stairs and windows, a factor frequently overlooked by existing campaigns on home safety awareness.
 
Practical measures, such as fixing handrails to stairs, can halve the probability of a fall, while paying attention to the openings of stairs, windows and balconies (and restricting them) can help prevent children falling through. Fixing hand-bars on bathtubs and showers can also contribute significantly in preventing accidents.
 
The report suggests that these kinds of modifications are cheap, so should be incorporated into the design of new homes and any improvement programmes on existing hosing stock.
 

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