We All Fall Down: staying vertical in a hazardous world

'We All Fall Down' is a user's guide to help us reduce our chances of falling and being injured during falls. Through case studies and analysis, the book provides practical advice on how to observe hazards in parking lots, on sidewalks, at doorways, on stairways, and at other locations we all encounter in our day-to-day lives. From Chapter 1Think of all the ways we use the word fall and all the meanings it has. Probably the first thing that comes to mind is falling in love when we seem to have almost no control over what happens. We get carried away with the current and have little power to slow it down or get off. Later some people fall out of favor with the ones they love. When we are told a joke and are led up to the punch line, or when someone plays a prank on us, we fall for it. We fall victim to scams and schemes to get our money. At work and in our relationships with others, we fall in line, but we also fall behind, and sometimes we fall all over ourselves. People fall out with each other. Our faces can communicate a lot when they fall after disappointment. Often the responsibility of a situation falls on us or falls within our duty. We also fall ill as we pass viruses from one to another. Stock prices, housing prices, even the price of meat, all rise and fall, and we are often advised to take a fallback position regarding our investments. There are also waterfalls and the season of fall when we have fall colors and fall weather. And at night darkness falls over the land.Regardless of the many meanings of the word fall, 'We All Fall Down' focuses on people actually falling from a walking, standing, or seated position due to the force of gravity.The book gives advice on how to prevent falls by showing many examples from the author's experience as an expert witness at lawsuits, but also as a practicing architect and academic with +40 years of experience.