Abstract
Slip-and-fall injuries are ubiquitous. People slip and trip on a daily basis, and often, these incidents result in falls. This paper examines the patterns of risk for slip-and-fall injuries in the United States using the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). A dataset was extracted that is representative of the entire U.S. population for three years (2005-2007). The analyses reveal increased risk for women and elderly individuals. The risk of a slip-and-fall injury is twice as high for females compared to males over much of the lifespan, and each year one out of every 100 individuals over the age of 55 is expected to visit a hospital emergency room following a fall. In addition to characterizing the patterns of risk, possible explanations for the patterns are raised and discussed.
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