Spiral Stairs Will Be the Death of Me

As many of you already know, my husband and I just bought and are in the process of moving into a new home.  One of the cons of this house was that it came with a spiral staircase as the only way of getting to the second floor, the level that holds my office space.  Going up the stairs is never an issue but going down always makes me afraid that I’m about to take a header. Well, I was right to be afraid as I managed to fall down them last week.  Luckily, I was most of the way down already when I slipped.  I was also lucky to stop only a couple steps down rather than continuing another full level down to the basement.  There were a few contributors to my fall but the top of the list is definitely negligence – I simply wasn’t paying enough attention.

Things that contributed to my fall:

• Not paying attention
• Did not have 3 full points of contact – railing is so close to wall that you can't hold onto it in that section
• Stairs are fairly narrow
• Shoes did not have slip-resistant soles

Things that kept my fall from being worse:

• Each tread is individually carpeted for better traction
• Railing and stairs themselves are sturdy and don’t sway
• My hands were empty
• I managed to keep my head from making contact with any surface

Overall, I survived with nothing more than minor bumps and bruises but I will definitely do my best to be more conscientious when descending down our stairs in the future.