Importance of Flooring at Home in Preventing Slips and Falls

Falling is the primary cause for serious brain and bone injuries in the elderly. Infirmity, poor vision and loss of balance are the reasons for these trips and slips. So senior fall prevention must be the prime concern for caregivers at home and assisted living facilities.

Falls can be prevented for seniors by adopting a special design for the ageing. Flooring plays a crucial role in senior fall prevention.

How? Let us take a look.

Do floors really help in senior fall prevention?

Yes, they do.

A study in a Swedish nursing home revealed that the use of special impact-absorbent flooring reduces falls by at least 60%.

Another study was conducted among 57 female residents of an average age of 85 years in a hospital. It was found that 254 falls occurred on regular flooring while only 77 happened on low-impact flooring. Of this, 30% of the falls on regular flooring led to grave injuries like hip fractures while the falls on soft flooring were relatively harmless with minor injuries.

So flooring does play a pivotal role in senior fall prevention and must be selected in accordance with the special design for aging.

How do floors help in senior fall prevention?

Choosing the right type of flooring and maintaining it rightly reduces the risk of falls among the elderly.

1. Choosing the right flooring

An ergonomic design must be the prime focus while choosing the flooring for the elderly and not the cost or aesthetics. Care must be taken to select a slip-resistant flooring for the home or senior independent living facility.

Several types of flooring are available in the market like stone, ceramic or vitrified tiles, terrazzo tiles, marble, granite, concrete etc. Choosing marvel or granite as a flooring when elders are around can prove truly fatal as these floorings are slippery when they are both wet and dry. In tiles, matt finish tiles are best because glossy ceramic tiles can cause slipping. Certain tiles are textured or pattern and appear anti-slip when dry but they may become slippery when wet or covered with grease. Stone or concrete tiles may look anti-slip but once a fall occurs, the impact is huge.

Instead, homes and assisted living facilities can use soft vinyl or rubberized flooring which have a low impact during falls. Consider other Low-impact flooring alternatives available in the market but make sure they fit into the slip-resistant design for the ageing.

2. Treating existing flooring with a slip-resistant coating

Transform the flooring of your home or senior independent living facility into an anti-slip one by any one of the following methods.

• Carpeting - End-to-end carpeting for your floor is an ideal option as it cushions the falls of your seniors minimizing the impact.
• Chemical Etching- Treating stone, concrete or porcelain floors with an acid wash to make the surface rougher.
• Abrasive coating - Increasing the traction of smooth flooring by coating it with an abrasive material consisting of gritty walnut shells or aluminium oxide.

3. Correct floor maintenance

Floors should be cleaned and maintained carefully when elders are around.

• Clean floors using the right tools like deck brushes and squeegees and use the right solvents that remove dirt and oil.
• Alkaline solvents are good for greasy floors like the kitchen but make the floor more slippery unless they are properly cleaned with water again.
• Do not wax and strip your tiled floors but scrub them for cleaning.
• Decide how often floors should be cleaned and train staff properly.

4. Proper housekeeping routine

• Declutter the floor and keep it free

• Mop up spills immediately.

• Wind up cords and wires.

• Use floor mats with bevelled edges and anti-slip backing and replace them when their edges curl.

Choose the right flooring to secure your home or assisted living facility to ensure senior fall prevention and make their premises a safe haven for elders.