Updated August 24, 2014.

Slips and falls in the home are a common hazard. Many people end up requiring medical care as result of their fall.

If you use a cane, a wheelchair, a walker, or a rollator, your chances of increase dramatically. So here are some tips for slip and fall prevention for the home.

Floors

1. Try hard to keep the paths where you walk in your home free from clutter. Pay special attention to items that can really tangle around your ankles like electrical cords and wires. A few areas to focus on would be your television, DVD player, stereo, cable box, floor and table lamps, home computer. What else can you think of in your home?

1. Loose or area rugs should be secured to the floor with carpet tape or non-slip backing. 
2. If you have tile or wood floors, use a non-skid wax, or avoid wax completely. When we were kids we loved sliding across a waxed floor. You won't enjoy it as much if you're an adult and you find yourself in an unplanned slide plummeting head over heels toward a hard surface floor.
3. All of this advice applies to stairs as well. Keep them clear, make sure they are well cared-for; no holes or divots that can make it easy to snag your foot and trip you. 
4. Door thresholds... if possible, eliminate them, or at least make them very visible with an off-set wood stain or paint. You can do this and still make it blend nicely with the decor of your home. The goal is to make sure the threshold doesn't "disappear" to the eye because it is an exact match to the floor around it.

Lighting

With lighting, safety is all about placement of the light switches. 

1. Make sure there's a light switch located where you can turn on the lights in a room before you enter that room.

1. Make sure there's a light within reach from your bed so that you can turn it on before you leave your bed.
2. Night lights: Use them. Use them to light your well-traveled pathways such as from bed to bathroom, bed to kitchen, and bed to staircases. 
3.  Keep a few flashlights throughout your home. Make sure the batteries are working periodically.

Stairs

1. Install handrails and keep them in good repair.

Bathrooms

1. Tubs and showers are very common places for slips and falls in the home. Apply a non-skid surface mat or adhesive strips to the floor of your tub and/or shower.
2. If you have some balance issues, it would be wise to install grab bars in the shower and around the toilet. Consider a shower chair as well.
3. A person with any type of hip ailment resulting in loss of hip flexibility and strength should consider a raised toilet seat.

Kitchen

1. Keep the items you use most frequently stored in low, easy-to-reach places in your kitchen. Whenever possible, avoid climbing on counters or chairs to reach things.
2. Instead, if you do need to reach for something in high storage, use a step ladder. Keep it stored close at hand in the kitchen, and make sure it too has a railing or grab bar on it.

Additional Safety Advice For Inside Your Home

1. Don't walk around with only socks on your feet. If you don't want to wear your shoes in your home, consider a pair of slippers with good traction on the soles.
2. Be on the lookout for pets, toys, cords, and small pieces of furniture when you are walking through your home.
3. Turn on the lights. Don't be lazy about that; use them.
4. Don't rush to answer the door or the phone. If you fall on your way there, you may not get to it anyway, so it's not worth the rush.
5. If you're carrying something through your home, make sure your view of your path isn't blocked.