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Comment by SoftTalker | Hacker News Reader

“Nearly 1.1 million Americans end up in the emergency room every year due to incidents stemming from taking the stairs”

I used this reasoning to argue that a “take the stairs” campaign by the healthy workplace committee at work was a bad idea. They didn’t want to hear it.

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Stair height matters, most businesses have a spiral staircase with platforms at each floor at a minimum (usually every half floor). That already cuts down the injury risk.

Further, for people under 60 a significant factor in falling down stairs is alcohol (about 30%).

Finally, if you look at who ends up in the emergency room, it's generally old people with brittle bones. In fact, that appears to be where the 1.1 million number comes from, people over 65. https://nfsi.org/national-floor-safety-institute-comments-on...

If you are sober, younger than 65, and capable, taking the stairs is a good choice. It's a decent low impact cardio exercise.

OK, but still more sober, young, capable people slip and fall and get hurt on stairs than using an elevator. And my office had its share of older, unfit people (not sure about drinkers).

> OK, but still more sober, young, capable people slip and fall and get hurt on stairs

Yes and statistically, that's rare and those individuals will be fine [1]. The danger increases exponentially with age primarily because bones get brittle and muscles weaker as you get older.

> And my office had its share of older, unfit people (not sure about drinkers).

Who I specifically mentioned should probably not take the stairs. I'm not on an anti elevator crusade. I'm also not universalizing stair usage. However, using the slip and fall statistic to say "take the stairs is a bad idea" is simply a bad argument.

[1] https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/all-injuries/deaths-by-demograph...

After the first person gets hurt, and calls an injury lawyer with a story of "they told me to take the stairs" you may reconsider whether this is a bad argument.

This is such a tired troupe.

Yes, anyone can sue over anything. No, you won't win a stairway lawsuit if the stairways are maintained and other alternatives exist. You are unlikely to find lawyers to represent you (at least not on contingency) if there's nothing wrong with the stairway. A good lawyer would advise you not to sue.

This is a bad argument because it assumes that lawsuits over injuries are always easy to win and costly. They aren't.

Here's a California slip and fall ambulance chaser laying out exactly these facts. [1]

I know it's likely stairs killed your grandma but give it a rest. As I stated in the beginning and gave facts/figures for, stairways are safe for most everyone. Just avoid them if you've been drinking or you're old.

[1] https://www.salamatilaw.com/slip-and-fall-lawyer-los-angeles...

People are not hurt by using an elevator but the lack of physical activity has negative health impacts and taking stairs is an exercise.

There's not much reason not to at least take the stairs when going down. It's minimal exertion, even for >10 floors, and likely ~ as fast as waiting for the elevator, making stops, etc.

Interestingly, going down might be the worst case for stairs :)

While climbing stairs is fairly low impact on the joints, descending is high impact (depending on how fast you go).

There are not much health benefits from going down stairs beyond what you'd get from regular walking. There are some (mostly minor) risks.

Just something to think about. (yes, I take the stairs up and down).

2.2 Million people are injured in bathrooms every year, we should ban those too...

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6022a1.htm

Every year, several people die from falling out of bed.

Wait, we need to know the statistics of people who died by reading alarming statistics.

93.7% of those were made on the spot.

that is a terrible argument to not use the stairs :)

I have coworkers who are in this risk group because they never take the elevator...or do anything that requires effort where a no-effort bypass exists.

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