’Tis the season for ladder falls

TORONTO—It must be one of the reasons that autumn is known as “fall.” Besides being the time when trees shed their leaves, September through November also is the period when hospitals treat the highest number of injuries for people pitching off ladders. In Ontario alone, more than 3,200 people ended up in emergency departments after toppling from ladders between late August and early December, 2004, says a study released yesterday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). More than 400 of them had to be admitted to hospital because of the severity of their injuries. Those autumn tumbles represented well over a third of the 8,300-plus ladder mishaps that took homeowners and workers to hospital for the entire year, the study showed. “These are all predictable and preventable events,” said Philip Groff, director of research and evaluation for SmartRisk, commenting on the CIHI report. “And two-thirds of ladder-related injuries in this country are not the result of working on industrial sites. It’s people in their homes who only use their ladders very occasionally. “So it’s a real risk for real Canadians going about their daily business, doing something that’s as fun as hanging Christmas lights or not as fun as cleaning the gutters,” added Groff, whose national non-profit organization is dedicated to preventing injuries. Analyzing data from hospitals across Ontario, CIHI found that trips to hospital emergency departments for ladder-related injuries peaked in the month of November, with an average of 30 visits a day. “It’s probably the tip of the iceberg, quite frankly, because what you’re not getting are the people who aren’t as seriously injured but are going to walk-in clinics or to their family doctors,” said Margaret Keresteci, CIHI manager of clinical registries. Falls of all kinds are the leading cause of injury in Canada, but plummets from ladders are, by far, the most common type of fall, she said. In the report, CIHI found more than 80 percent of those seeking ER treatment for falls were men, with people aged 40-59 accounting for almost half of the visits, followed by those aged 20-39. More than 200 of those who dropped off ladders were 80 years of age or older, said Keresteci. Dr. Jean-Denis Yelle, head of trauma at Ottawa Hospital, said spills from ladders can cause minor injuries, such as bruises, cuts, and sprained ankles. More serious problems include broken leg and arm bones, and even collapsed vertebrae from the impact of the fall. But such accidents also can result in severe trauma or even death, Yelle said. “This is a group that are on the ladder, quite high, and they try to reach something and they lose their balance and they fall head-first rather than feet-first,” he said. “And those ones will have significant injury and some die.” Last year, his hospital saw 15 people who had toppled off ladders, one of whom died from head trauma. In 2004, 19 were treated for ladder falls, including three people who died. Just last weekend, a middle-aged Toronto woman died after falling while up a ladder to trim tree branches. She had suffered a fractured skull. Keresteci hypothesized the popularity of TV home-renovation programs may be encouraging more people to become do-it-yourselfers. And that means not only cleaning out leaves from eavestroughs and tacking up holiday decorations atop ladders, but also painting, cleaning windows, and performing roof repairs. Doing outdoor house chores is something she can relate to—as well as, she conceded, falling off a ladder while doing them. “I have to confess I’ve done the same thing . . . I had a very bad break in my wrist from exactly that, trying to put Christmas lights up on a second-floor gable,” she said of her November, 2003 accident. “I over-reached, I didn’t get down and move the ladder. I reached sideways and fell.”