Halls and landings

The size and layout of halls and landings vary significantly from house to house, however nearly all act as the starting or terminating point for any stair and this makes them a potentially hazardous area.

The other thing that downstairs halls usually do is lead to the front door where there are steps and another possible fall hazard.

Making these areas safer

The best way of making these areas safer for mobility challenged people is to remove the need to climb stairs and this can be done by installing a stairlift in the house. However, a stairlift is not always affordable, not always practical and some people feel that they are giving away part of their independence if they get one.

The other option with a hall or landing is to add some grab rails.

A stair will always have banister rails, however in older properties these rails may not be present on both sides of the stair and they may not be at the appropriate level. When this is the case the location, specification and number of rails should be upgraded to the current requirements. More can then be added if there is a benefit.

Having grab rails around doors and entrances to other rooms is never a bad idea. When you leave the hall to enter another room the light and floor surface will often be slightly different and this can help contribute to falls. Adding rails at these points can help and even if they are not used they still provide a feeling of security.

Another common feature of hallways is to have a solid floor. This may be parquet, tiles, boarded, stone etc and, whilst looking good, these floor are dangerous to fall on. The solution is to add impact absorbing matting. This matting cushions any falls and dramatically reduces the seriousness of any injury that results.