Slip, trip and falls among women of different age groups: A case study from the northern hills of India

Abstract

Slip, trip and falls continue to be significant occupational safety concern, and causes of occupational injuries and fatalities in the workplace and daily activities. This paper shows the results of a comparative study done in the hill region of India. It explored the slip, trip and fall injuries in terms of activities leading to them and impact o f such injuries among the hill women of different age groups: young adults, middle aged and elderly. It was found that most of the slip, trip and falls were faced during the activity of carrying fodder (52.78 %), carrying firewood (49.44 %), collecting fodder (47.78 %), collecting firewood (43.89 %) and collecting dung (40.56 %). Most of the slip acci-dents were reported by elderly age group as compared to middle aged and young adults. Majority of the respond-ents got hurt their back and/or they suffered from back pain (76.67 %), faced general pain (72.22 %) and fractures (45.00 %). Most of the respondents reported the possible perceived reason for slip, trip and falls as slippery terrain (82.78 %), followed by 80.00 % of respondents who reported carrying excess load as the major reason. Other reasons reported were being rushed at work (77.77 %), awkward or unusual working posture (76.66 %).This study brings in light the dangerous working conditions of hill women, who often suffers from many injuries including slip, trip and falls even just for meeting her daily family needs such as water, fuel, fodder.