For Seniors

Slips, Trips, Falls

• One in four Americans aged 65+ falls each year.
• Every 11 seconds, an older adult is treated in the emergency room for a fall; every 19 minutes, an older adult dies from a fall.
• Falls are the leading cause of fatal injury and the most common cause of nonfatal trauma-related hospital admissions among older adults.
• Falls result in more than 2.8 million injuries treated in emergency departments annually, including over 800,000 hospitalizations and more than 27,000 deaths.
• In 2015, the total cost of fall injuries was $50 billion. Medicare and Medicaid shouldered 75% of these costs.
• The financial toll for older adult falls is expected to increase as the population ages and may reach $67.7 billion by 2020.

Additional Resources

For additional information on preventing cooking fires, heating fires, slips, trips, and falls, and exit drills follow these links:

• Fire Prevention and Fall Prevention (PDF)
• Fall Prevention
• Exit Drills in the Home (PDF)
• Fire Safety Checklist for Caregivers of Older Adults (PDF)
• Heating Fires
• Heating Safety Messages in American Sign Language

Further information on smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms,  Exit Drills in the Home (EDITH), home fire safety surveys, cooking fires, grill fires, severe storm warning information, and more can be found on our for families page.