The Staircase

------Studies of Hazards, Falls, and Safer Design by John Templer, PhD.

(MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts)

John Templer stated to Richard Wolkomir during an interview for an article published in the Smithsonian Magazine that "Stairs are one of the most dangerous manufactured objects."  Templer should know he as been studying staircases and steps for nearly three decades.  Drawing on this study and his work as an architect associated with the Georgia Institute of Technology he has written a two volume treatise entitled "the Staircase."

According to Templer, stairways account for nearly 4000 fatal accidents each year with another two million individuals injured because of stairway falls.  In the hazards volume, Templer takes an approach that is somewhat unusual for architects.  He places the aesthetics and appearance of the stairway as an important but secondary consideration in stairway design.  Templer looks at the necessary elements to make a stairway safe.

He devotes a complete Section on "Why do People Fall on Stairs?" Going down stairs requires a different gait than is used while ascending.  For example, " going down, shorter risers and deeper treads would be better because descent requires moment when the body is balanced on one leg, the foot up on its toes, as the other foot reaches down to the tread below....and if a high riser forces the foot the forward foot too far down, we can lose out balance and easily topple."  Irregular dimensions of a stairway are the leading causes of stairway accidents.

Among the chapters of particular interest to the attorney and the safety professional are  those dealing with the characteristics of stair falls and injuries; riser and tread geometry; slope and slip resistance; stairway and ramp sizes;  handrails; and design criteria for safe stairways.  The last chapter contain a brief discussion of some of the legal issues in stairway and exit design.

Included is an appendix which contains a checklist for design that incorporates the state of art knowledge of minimum design criteria.  He also includes a comprehensive glossary and a reference section containing about 180 references to the scientific literature.

Dr. Templer has written an extremely useful text.  His calculations and references are right on the mark.  While I have had the opportunity to examine well over 5000 stairways and to have conducted many of the same testing protocols to determine the forces generated during the stride, I find his compilation  of theories and insight into the complex design criteria and use of the stairway very helpful.  My personal copy is now dog-eared and marked.  It bears a prominent place in my reference library.

The Staircase by John Templer, PhD, MIT Press (1992)

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