How can you protect yourself when falling. What are the key steps to minimize injury during a fall. Why is it important to learn proper falling techniques. How does body positioning affect fall outcomes. What role does relaxation play in reducing fall injuries. How can you practice safe falling techniques.

The Importance of Knowing How to Fall Safely

Falls are an inevitable part of life, affecting people of all ages. Contrary to popular belief, studies have shown that adults aged 50-60 are more prone to falls than older individuals, largely due to their higher activity levels. Understanding how to fall safely is crucial for everyone, as it can significantly reduce the risk of serious injuries.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that falls are the leading cause of traumatic brain injuries. This startling statistic underscores the importance of learning proper falling techniques. By mastering these skills, you can protect yourself from severe harm during unexpected tumbles.

Protect Your Head: The Most Critical Step in Fall Safety

When falling, protecting your head should be your top priority. Head injuries can have severe, even life-threatening consequences. Here are some key techniques to safeguard your head during a fall:

• Tuck your chin down to lower your head
• If falling face-first, turn your head to the side
• Bring your arms up to head level for additional protection
• Position your arms in front of your head if falling forward, or behind your head if falling backward

For individuals taking anticoagulants or blood thinners, a head impact during a fall can be especially dangerous. If you’re on these medications and hit your head during a fall, it’s crucial to contact your doctor immediately. They may recommend a CT scan to rule out internal bleeding.

Why is protecting the head so crucial during a fall?

The brain is our most vital organ, controlling all bodily functions and housing our consciousness. Even minor head injuries can lead to concussions, while severe impacts can cause lasting brain damage or prove fatal. By prioritizing head protection, you significantly reduce the risk of life-altering consequences from a fall.

The Art of Turning: Minimizing Impact by Falling Sideways

When you find yourself falling either forward or backward, try to turn your body to land on your side. This technique can substantially reduce the risk of serious injury, especially from higher falls.

Falling directly on your back can cause severe spinal injuries, while frontal falls often result in damage to the head, face, and arms. By landing on your side, you distribute the impact over a larger area of your body, minimizing the force on any single point.

How does falling sideways reduce injury risk?

Landing on your side allows for better force distribution across your body. It helps protect vital organs and reduces the likelihood of fractures in vulnerable areas like the spine, skull, or long bones. Additionally, it provides more options for controlled impact absorption through strategic positioning of your limbs.

The Importance of Bent Limbs: Reducing Impact Force

While it may be instinctive to try and catch yourself with outstretched arms, this can lead to serious injuries. Instead, aim to keep both your arms and legs slightly bent as you fall. This approach helps absorb and distribute the impact more effectively.

• Avoid landing with straight arms, as this can result in broken wrists and arms
• Bent limbs act as shock absorbers, reducing the force transmitted to your body
• Flexed joints allow for more controlled movement during the fall

Why are bent limbs more effective in fall protection?

Bent limbs provide a natural shock-absorption system. When your joints are slightly flexed, they can compress and extend to dissipate the force of impact. This flexibility reduces the likelihood of fractures and sprains compared to rigid, straight limbs which transfer the full force of impact directly to your bones and joints.

The Power of Relaxation: Staying Loose During a Fall

One of the most counterintuitive yet crucial aspects of falling safely is staying relaxed. Tensing up during a fall can significantly increase your risk of injury. When your body is tense, it can’t effectively absorb and distribute the force of impact.

To promote relaxation during a fall:

• Practice deep breathing exercises regularly to improve your ability to stay calm under stress
• Try exhaling as you fall to help keep your body loose
• Focus on keeping your muscles soft and pliable rather than rigid and tense

How does staying relaxed reduce injury risk during a fall?

A relaxed body is more flexible and adaptable. When you’re loose, your muscles and joints can move and flex to absorb impact, rather than resisting it. This flexibility allows the force of the fall to be distributed more evenly across your body, reducing the likelihood of any single area sustaining severe damage. Additionally, relaxed muscles are less prone to strains and tears compared to tensed muscles.

Mastering the Art of Rolling: Dissipating Impact Energy

Rolling is an advanced technique that can significantly reduce the impact of a fall by converting the downward force into forward motion. While it requires practice to master, rolling can be an extremely effective way to protect yourself during a fall.

Here’s a basic guide to practicing a forward roll:

1. Start in a low squat position
2. Lean forward and place your palms flat on the ground in front of you
3. Push off the ground with your legs and shift your weight forward
4. Allow your legs to go over your head
5. Keep your back rounded and aim to land gently on a shoulder
6. Let the momentum carry you through the roll and back onto your feet

It’s crucial to practice this technique in a safe, padded environment before attempting it in real-world situations.

Why is rolling an effective fall safety technique?

Rolling redirects the energy of your fall from a sudden stop into a continuous motion. This distribution of force over time and distance significantly reduces the impact on any single part of your body. By converting vertical momentum into horizontal movement, rolling helps prevent the concentrated force that often leads to injuries in falls.

Spreading the Impact: Distributing Force Across Your Body

A key principle in fall safety is spreading out the force of impact over a large area of your body. Concentrating the force on a single point increases the risk of serious injury to that specific area. By distributing the impact, you reduce the likelihood of severe damage to any one part of your body.

Techniques for spreading impact include:

• Using your entire arm or leg to absorb shock, rather than just your hand or foot
• Aiming to land on fleshier parts of your body rather than bony prominences
• Utilizing multiple contact points when possible to distribute force

How does spreading the impact reduce injury severity?

When force is concentrated on a small area, it can easily exceed the structural integrity of bones and tissues, leading to fractures, sprains, or other injuries. By spreading the force over a larger surface area, you reduce the pressure at any single point. This distribution makes it less likely for any particular bone, joint, or muscle to bear the brunt of the impact, thereby lowering the risk of serious injury.

Practical Tips for Implementing Fall Safety Techniques

While understanding fall safety principles is crucial, putting them into practice requires preparation and mindfulness. Here are some practical tips to help you implement these techniques effectively:

• Practice falling techniques in a safe environment, such as on a soft mat or with the guidance of a trained professional
• Incorporate balance and coordination exercises into your fitness routine to improve overall stability
• Stay aware of your surroundings to identify potential fall hazards
• Wear appropriate footwear with good traction to reduce the risk of slipping
• Maintain good posture and body awareness in your daily activities

How can you make fall safety techniques second nature?

Regular practice is key to ingraining these techniques into your muscle memory. Start with simple exercises like controlled falls from a kneeling position onto soft surfaces. Gradually progress to more challenging scenarios as your confidence and skill improve. Additionally, incorporating mindfulness practices can help you stay calm and focused during unexpected falls, allowing you to react more effectively.

Remember, while these techniques can significantly reduce your risk of injury, prevention should always be your first line of defense. Maintain a safe environment, stay physically active to improve balance and strength, and be mindful of potential hazards in your surroundings.

By combining preventive measures with proper falling techniques, you can greatly enhance your personal safety and reduce the risk of serious injuries from unexpected falls. Whether you’re navigating icy sidewalks, participating in sports, or simply going about your daily activities, these skills can provide an invaluable layer of protection against the unpredictable nature of falls.

Do you know how to fall SAFELY? 6 steps for personal protection.

Fall protection is often stressed, we’re always looking to avoid falls; but have you ever thought about what to do when you can’t avoid the fall?  The following 6 steps will help reduce injury as you slip, slide, or fall.

Protect your head. The most important body part that you need to protect in a fall is your head. Head injuries can be very serious, even deadly. Make sure you prioritize protecting your head as you fall by properly positioning it.

• Tuck your your chin down, lowering your head.
• If falling down, face first, turn your head to the side.
• Bring your arms up to head level for additional protection. Put them in front of your head if falling forwards or behind your head if falling backwards.
• If you are taking anticoagulants or blood thinners and fall and hit your head, this may result in a dangerous and life-threatening bleed inside your skull. Call your doctor, who may tell you to go to the hospital for a CT scan.

Turn as you fall. If you are falling either straight forward or straight backwards, try to turn your body so you land on your side. Falling directly on your back can cause serious injury to it. A frontal fall can cause damage to the head, face, and arms. By landing on your side you can reduce the chance of injury from high distances (for example, one way vertical paths).

Keep arms and legs bent. It may be tempting to try and catch yourself fully as you fall with your arms. However, landing with your arms straight out and absorbing the full force of the fall with them can cause injury. Try keeping both arms and legs slightly bent as you fall.^[3]

• Landing fully on your arms in an attempt to catch yourself can break both your wrists and arms.

Stay loose. Tensing up during a fall can increase the chances of sustaining an injury. The tension in your body won’t allow for the absorption of force from the fall. Instead of spreading the impact out over a flexible body, the parts that were kept taught are more likely to break instead of going with the motion.

• You can try breathing out as you fall to help keep your body relaxed.

Roll out of the impact. If you are able, a good technique to dissipate the force of a fall is to roll into it. By rolling, you send the energy of the fall into the roll, rather than having your body absorb the impact. Since the technique is difficult, you may want to practice falling and rolling at a gym or somewhere with padded and cushioned floors.

• Start in a low squat position.
• Lean forward and place your palms flat on the ground in front of you.
• Push off the ground with your legs and move your weight forwards.
• Your legs will go over your head.
• Keep your back rounded and gently try to land on a shoulder.
• Let the momentum carry you through the roll and back up onto your feet.

Spread out the force of the fall. A big part of falling safely is to spread out the force of the impact over a large area of your body. Falling on a single point will result in that area taking most of the damage. By spreading out the impact, you reduce the chance of serious injury to a single part of the body.

For more tips on how to fall safely click here.

More Insight & Tips

More Insight

How To Fall To Prevent Injury

Michael Zimmerman

Published

November 28, 2017

It was nearly 30 years ago that Mrs. Fletcher from the LifeCall commercials first uttered her plaintive cry: “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” 

Back then, it was campy and funny. But in the intervening years, chances are that you, and perhaps some of your loved ones, have taken some nasty spills. It’s not just the elderly, though, who end up on the ground. 

STEVE SANFORD

A study in the Journal of Allied Health showed that 50- to 60-year-olds fall more than older folks. We’re more active, and that puts us more at risk of falling. Also, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that people are more likely to suffer a traumatic brain injury from falling than from any other cause. 

STEVE SANFORD

And we’re all going to fall down: The world is full of banana peels. So while avoiding a fall is job one, knowing how to take a fall when it’s inevitable is a crucial skill.

STEVE SANFORD

“Be smooth, don’t panic, stay loose,” says Alexa Marcigliano, who is really good at falling down. A professional stuntwoman, she’s taken serious spills in shows such as Orange Is the New Black and Blindspot. Here’s her four-point plan for a safe crash landing.

Step 1: Stay bent 

The moment you sense you’ve lost your balance, get ready to fall with bent elbows and knees. “When people panic, they become rigid,” Marcigliano says. “In the stunt world, we never reach out with locked arms. Bend your elbows and have some give in your arms to soften the impact.” When you’re rigid, you’re more likely to suffer a set of injuries called FOOSH — doctor speak for “Fall on outstretched hand.” The result is often a broken wrist or elbow.

Step 2: Protect your head

If you’re falling forward, be sure to turn your face to the side. Falling backward? “Tuck your chin to your chest so your head doesn’t hit the ground,” Marcigliano advises.

Step 3: Land on the meat

“One of the things we try for in stunt falls is landing on meaty parts of your body — the muscles in your back, butt or thighs. Not bone.” If you keep your knees and elbows bent and look to land on muscle, you’ll be less likely to crack your elbows, knees, tailbone or hips.

Step 4: Keep falling

Your instinct will be to stop your body as quickly as you can. But your safest route is to keep rolling — indeed, the more you give in to the fall, the safer it will be. “Spread the impact across a larger part of your body; don’t concentrate impact on one area,” Marcigliano says. The more you roll with the fall, the safer you will be.

Advanced trick

“In stunts, we do something called slapping out,” Marcigliano notes. “As you fall, let your body roll, and extend your arm palm-down, to slap the ground and stop yourself.

Before the fall

While you can’t prevent all slips, there’s plenty you can do to improve your footing.

• Be here now. Practice “mindfulness” — focus on the present and be aware of your surroundings, instead of being lost in your thoughts.  
• Fix your blind spots. If you can’t see it, you can’t avoid tripping over it. Have your eyesight and eyeglasses checked regularly.
• Boost your balance. Stand with your feet together. Raise one foot an inch; hold for 30 seconds. Do this for 10 reps. Repeat with your other foot.

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Basic Safety Rules for Working with Fall Harness

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June 26, 2023

Working at height is always associated with a risk to human life and health. Therefore, certain safety standards have now been developed and introduced into mandatory use, which have a clear prescription for the use of specialized equipment when working at height. Tethers can be called the key of these devices.

Contents

• Harnesses and how they are determined
• Requirements for a fall arrest harness
• Where to buy a fall arrest harness?

According to the rules on labor protection when working at height, the employer is obliged to issue PPE to the employee depending on the type of work and taking into account the risks that affect the employee.

Harnesses, and how their type is determined

Before talking about the types, types and differences of harnesses, you first need to understand what it is in general and for what purposes it is used. The safety harness is an important part of the employee’s personal equipment, it is also a separate element of the safety system, which ensures safety when working at height.

The harness must not restrict the movement of the worker during the movement, however, in the event of a fall stop, keep the worker in himself and ensure that he is in a hover with his head up. The task of the connecting system, due to the shock absorber, is to extinguish the jerk force in a range that will not cause serious injury to the worker. Thus, we get a reliable system that works without the participation of the employee himself, provided that it is used correctly.

Taking into account the specifics of work that can be performed at height and highly specialized tasks, harnesses can be used in the following systems:

1. Restraint system. Arranged with restraint harness in the composition to prevent the worker from entering the fall zone. The system is adjusted to a certain range of movement of the worker, while it is impossible to approach the height difference. This excludes a fall from a height as such. Such a system is used on the condition that all the intended work will be in safe access and access to the fall zone is not expected.
2. Safety systems. Used in situations where it is necessary to carry out work in areas where a fall is possible. Have safety harness included. In this case, the task of the harness is to hold the worker at the time of the fall, distribute the load over the body and stop the head up after the fall.
3. Positioning harnesses are used when a worker needs to be fixed at a height. For this, side points on the harness belt and a special sling are used.
4. Unsupported harnesses . A distinctive feature of such harnesses is the possibility of using them in a cable access system. These systems are used in environments where the entire system, and in particular the harness, is the means of access to the workplace. The harness has padding on the shoulder and hip straps. These changes are made in order to ensure a comfortable stay of a person in a sitting position for a long time.

choose a harness according to the job site

Harness requirements

When choosing from a variety of harnesses, you should be guided by the approved requirements that they must meet. An extended list can be found in the standards GOST R EN 361-2008 Group T58 and the National Standard of the Russian Federation.

According to these regulations, such systems must take into account:

• the presence of single or multi-filament synthetic materials in the composition, their level of tear strength, indicators of compatibility of woven tape and sewing threads with textile material of slings and belts;
• obligatory presence of straps in the hip and shoulder areas, while comparing such systems with a restraint belt cannot be allowed;
• in such constructions, regulators must be present to adjust the harness to the features of the figure, to ensure high and tight fixation of the body of a particular person;
• The straps must be wide enough to prevent them from cutting into the body when the fall is abruptly stopped. Therefore, a minimum width of 4 cm for basic straps is considered acceptable, and for auxiliary straps – from 2 cm.

Where can I buy a harness?

You can find all types of harnesses for safe work at height in our catalogue. Ventopro, a Russian manufacturer of devices for safe work at height, will be happy to provide you with information support in choosing safety equipment: +7 495 640 45 05

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Safe behavior at home

Today we will get acquainted with some of the dangers that may arise in everyday life, and learn how to behave correctly in unforeseen situations in order to protect our lives and the lives of loved ones from danger.

To begin with, let’s give a definition: what is everyday life. Life is the daily way of life of a person. To create good living conditions, all our houses are connected to electricity, hot and cold water, as well as gas. In houses where there are many floors, there is an elevator. In every house and apartment there are many different devices and household appliances that ensure the uninterrupted use of water, gas and electricity. Every day you wash your face and brush your teeth, take a shower, for which you use taps and faucets installed in the bathroom. With the help of taps, you select the temperature of the water and the pressure of the jet. When you fill the kettle or wash the dishes while helping your mother, you use the water that is connected to the kitchen. When you go to the toilet, you use water from a drain tank in which a float valve is installed. You constantly use a variety of electrical appliances such as: iron, TV, lamp, radio equipment. For this purpose, electrical wiring was carried out in the apartment, and electrical sockets and room lighting switches were installed in specially designated places. All this for us is ordinary and familiar things.

However, under certain conditions, when using such well-known devices and equipment, unforeseen dangerous situations may arise for you, your loved ones and for your home. Such dangerous situations can arise for two reasons. In the first case, you yourself can create such a dangerous situation when you violate the safety rules for using equipment and household appliances. In the second case, a dangerous situation may arise independently of you. For example, the voltage in the network has sharply increased, the faucet in the kitchen has flowed, etc. in order for you to know how to avoid the occurrence of dangerous situations in everyday life, and if it does arise, then try to reduce its negative consequences, we will try to consider in detail the main everyday situations that require compliance with certain rules. Safety rules for handling electricity In the house, electricity provides lighting, heating, cooking, operation of various household appliances: TV, refrigerator, radio equipment and others. At the same time, electricity, under certain conditions, poses a serious danger to human life and health. Electricity, when passing through the human body, causes it to heat up and can lead to burns. Electric burns can seriously damage internal tissues of a person. In addition, electrical shock can cause cardiac arrest or respiratory arrest. To prevent this from happening in everyday life, it is necessary to follow a number of general rules for the safe handling of electricity.

General Electrical Safety Rules

Never leave an electrical appliance unattended.

Do not use electrical appliances that are damaged in any way.

Do not connect more than one appliance to the same outlet.

It is necessary to strictly observe the procedure for connecting electrical appliances to the mains: first you need to connect the cord to the appliance, and only then connect the cord to the mains.

Switch off the appliance in reverse order.

Do not touch the device connected to the mains with wet hands, and do not use electrical devices while you are in the water.

If you find a malfunction in an electrical appliance, see bare or poorly insulated wires, tell an adult immediately.

Remember: never extinguish burning electrical devices connected to the mains with water!

Safety regulations for handling flue gas

Many households today use domestic natural gas, which can be used in appliances such as gas stoves for cooking and water heaters. Gas intended for domestic purposes is divided into two types: liquefied gas in cylinders and city main gas. Household gas has neither color nor smell, therefore, so that people can detect its leak in time, special substances are added to it that have a sharp specific smell that can quickly attract attention. What is dangerous leakage of domestic gas Leakage of domestic gas can lead to tragic consequences: poisoning a person or a strong explosion, so you must strictly follow all safety rules when handling domestic gas.

Basic gas safety rules

In order to ignite a gas burner, you must first bring a lighted match to it, and then carefully open the gas valve. Under no circumstances should gas burners be left unattended.

Be careful that the liquid you are heating with gas does not run out and flood the flame of the burner.

If you notice that the burner has gone out, do not try to light it again, as this may cause an explosion. In this case, you need to turn off the gas supply and open the windows to ventilate the kitchen and inform an adult immediately. When you feel that you smell gas, immediately notify adults and in no case light matches, turn on lights and electrical appliances until the leak is completely eliminated and the room is finally ventilated.

Water safety measures

Water enters the house through pipes and is distributed to various rooms where it is needed: bathroom, kitchen, toilet. These rooms have special devices for regulating its supply and consumption: taps, mixers, etc. When using these devices, you follow all the necessary rules, there can be no dangerous situations. Here are the rules.

Plumbing Regulations

Do not leave an open water faucet unattended when water is pouring from it.

Do not leave the tap open if the water has been turned off for some reason. After all, if you forget to close it and leave the house, and at this time water is supplied, then your apartment will be flooded.

Do not throw garbage into the toilet, as this can quickly clog the sewer pipes, and dirty sewage water will enter the house.

If you see water leaking anywhere (faucets, heating system, plumbing), immediately tell an adult about it and show the location of the problem. Remember that a timely repair of a malfunction will prevent a serious accident.

Computer Safety Rules

Almost every home today has a computer. This is a very useful and necessary thing, but if you violate the rules for handling it, you can endanger your health.

Rules for working at a computer

Special rules have been established under which the continuous duration of work at a computer cannot exceed twenty-five minutes.

After each session at the computer, it is necessary to do special physical exercises.

To relieve fatigue of the shoulder girdle and arms, it is necessary to use exercises with alternating tension and relaxation of individual muscle groups.

You can also do a set of exercises for the eyes. You need to turn away from the computer monitor screen and, breathing rhythmically, move your eyes with maximum amplitude. You also need to constantly ensure that the position of your monitor is unidirectional with your gaze.

The middle of the monitor screen should be exactly at eye level or at least slightly lower.

It is also not recommended to work in a dark or semi-dark room.

Safe handling of household chemicals

Household chemicals are various detergents, as well as solvents, varnishes, paints, aerosol cans and combustible substances. We really need these funds in everyday life, but many of them have toxic properties and are very dangerous for humans, unless, of course, certain mandatory rules for their storage and use are observed. Basic rules for handling household chemicals Household chemicals should be used only for their intended purpose in accordance with the recommendations written on the label. All purchased household chemicals must be stored separately from food, medicines. They must also be labeled by the manufacturer. Household chemicals should be stored in dry and well-ventilated areas. You can not store them in living quarters, in the kitchen, bathroom. It is advisable to store such funds either in the toilet or on the loggia. It is forbidden to store aerosol cans near gas and electric stoves, as well as other heat sources.

It is strictly not recommended to work with household chemicals when gas burners are on.

It is also not necessary to try to open an already used container.

At home, we sometimes use a variety of tools designed to perform various small household chores: saw, hammer, drill, pliers, knife, screwdriver, scissors and others.

Rules for safe handling of tools and –

The workplace must be cleared of all foreign objects and tools before work, which can interfere and lead to accidental injury.

– In any work, your body position must be stable;

– All cutting and stabbing tools, when performing work, must be directed with sharp edges away from the body; fingers squeezing the tool should be as far as possible from its cutting edge; the object that you process in one way or another must be securely fixed in a vise or in any other protective device.

– All cutting and stabbing tools must be in a conspicuous place

In conclusion, we will give some useful tips on how to protect yourself from accidental injuries in our daily lives.

Do not sit on the windowsill with the window open. This is fraught with the risk of accidentally losing balance and falling out of the window.

Do not jump from great heights and walk on high ledges and parapets, even if it is a lot of fun and you are fearless.