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I remember reading once that someone asked an OR doctor for the best advice for a long life and they said “Use the Handrails”.

As someone who biffed down the stairs in the middle of the night twice, I support this idea

Hmmm...clearly @scalzi.com must have written the employee rules for Intel. 🤔

oh, I like to play up the everydayness of my karate skills. I'm unlikely to ever get in a fight, and I hope not to. I didn't get into this because of action movies! bsky.app/profile/bfwr...

I was also followed all the way down comically (because we were alright, otherwise it would have been tragic) by my mother and two giant suitcases. It was like a bad cartoon.

A colleague and friend in her 30s broke her neck, 200 stitches in her face. A single flight of stairs. She'll never walk again. We're still big on handrails at work, a decade later. Fuck the germs. Hold the damn handrail.

When we bought our 1911 house in 1999, it had no handrails to the basement or the second floor. Put them in right away, but only on one side. Which I realized was an error when I broke my right hand and had nothing to hold onto going down the steps.

I started doing this when I first got bifocals (yes at 40) cause my eyes took a bit to adjust, but its for sure saved me a few times!!

I work with a couple of major companies that have a lot of field engineers. As part of their overall safety messaging handrail use is enforced in their offices to highlight that safety rules apply to everyone, not just field.

Reminds me I should remove the stairlift on the lower flight here and put the handrail back up. When the lift was installed there really wasn’t anywhere to put the handrail. And parents didn’t need the handrail because they’d be using the lift.

Same! Rails in the shower, too.

For those who get the ick from touching public handrails, gloves are an option. Everyone used to wear them when out in public, why not have a revival?

I'm trying to do the same thing with writing everything down but may have waited too late.

Thank you for this discussion. We had to move because of mobility issues & finding an accessible place was a headache. Most rental houses have stairs, & too many new apartments are kind of soulless but safe.

Handrail reminder 😬 bsky.app/profile/rayk...

I’ll know who to thank for the Great Handrail Plague of 2033

I took a spill down my stairs in Jan 2020. The rule's been both handrail and grippy shoes on the stairs ever since.

Also helps me spot approaching idiots & be somewhere else when it kicks off! 😂

Health and safety is everybody’s responsibility.

Lucky kitty! Barefoot or slippers with non-slip bottoms and that don't slip off your feet easily. I live in North Seattle so there is enough ambient light that I don't need night lights.

ABSOLUTELY. Never ever use stairs without at least one hand on a railing. Ever. My husb tripped going up the stairs 2 years ago, badly sprained an ankle (& took ages to see doc about it because he's a that guy). Ankle has never been the same. Plus: NO PHONE ON STAIRS. Distractions are the enemy.

I don’t have depth perception and going down stairs has always been even harder for me than going up them, so I have always used the handrails.

Holy crap that's an idea that would never occur to me, yet seems intuitively obvious the moment someone says it.

it’s also never too early to learn how to fall (more) safely - I learned that the hard way developing a fainting disorder in my early 20s and getting a concussion per year, but you don’t gotta wait!

Next Up: Carrying Stuff Downstairs Backwards... At 62, it keeps me alive. :D

I remember the first time hearing Trump is scared of stairs, I had a rare "no, he's onto something there" moment

I did that since, like forever.☝️ Gravity does not discriminate against old age.

When I was in Air Force ROTC camp if we were going up the stairs we got yelled at for not using the handrails because we were safety hazards. It got me into the habit.

I learned about handrails that when studying chemistry. In the chemical and petrochemical industry (at least in Germany) not using handrails is a safety violation. Repeatedly not using them will get you fired.

Thinking on it -- might be Midtown or Arts Center. One of those stations. It's been a while since I used to take MARTA to work.

Proud that we have zero area rugs in our house (except a bath mat that doesn't slip). Hardwood and tile floors only.

I had to steal my 93 y/o mom's area rugs. She asked me where her rugs went (she had increasing dementia) and I said I took them to be cleaned. That was the end of that. She LOVED her kilims, I felt so sad removing them. But, necessary.

Caregiver. Had someone faceplant from a hallway piece that was *nailed to the floor*. Only then were we allowed to remove it (but not others in the house) 😭

Throw a mattress topper under all your area rugs, what could go wrong?

Yep. I taped down every edge of my MIL's area rugs and even mats in her bathroom.

I'm certain my demise will be caused by falling over the trippy uppy cat.

Definitely, if they're thin, or slip easily on the underlying floor. If you're old, you need thicker ones with non-slip backing, and they taper to thin at the edges so they don't roll up and trip you. You can use carpet-tape to stick the edges down for extra safety.

The rugs will catch your toes and send you flying

Doing balance exercises is a good idea for everyone over 40. Not that it prevents freak things from happening, but it makes our odds better.

And yet 100% necessary for the well-being of my elderly dog who can't stand up on bare floors.

Smart, I should start doing this.

This is EXCELLENT advice! - Person whose feet forgot how stairs work recently and ended up at the bottom of the stairs, spread eagle, face down, with a sprained ankle. Could have been SO MUCH WORSE. Thankfully it was just the last couple of steps, and a sprained ankle/ego were the only injuries.

Generally I use the handrails because lol, chronic pain. But the last time I didn't, I slipped on the last step and if I hadn't been able to grab both handrails to slow the fall I would have been seriously injured instead of just really bruised and sore. Handrails are great.

I don’t know how I survived the Navy by loping -down- ladderwells without the hand rails. I also slid down them. But I’m so clumsy that I started at least hovering my hand over the rail going down so I don’t have to touch it right after my service. Saved my life a number of times since then

My wife and daughter go on a girls’ trip to Door County with friends every year. I spend that time carefully walking up and down the stairs because nobody would find my body for 5 days.

Loved it! I agree 100% with everything you said and have been an acolyte of nearly all of it my entire life. Thanks for sharing your flame.

Having a cat who is actively trying to kill me on the stairs helps remind me to hold the handrail too.

My most vivid nightmares involve floors and floors of interlocking stairs with no guardrails

while I do not recommend having a stroke at 40, nursing memory of "shit I'm falling, oh right I can at least try to slow it down and fall safely*" has saved my ass a few times in 2026

Same. Going downstairs without holding the handrail feels as wrong as driving without buckling the seatbelt.

I'm a 70 yo ex-alpinist who still climbs regularly. I 'm also a physician who still pick up after life shattering events, large & small. I always use handrails 'cause I've seen the consequences of not doing it... PS: ladders are right out...

Oh no.

I’ve missed the last step on stairs 3x this year. 1 serious sprain for my troubles. I’ve taken to jumping down the last 2 to build up my knees and ankles.

Just (in my 50s) done a big refurb on my home and put in lots of automation, including motorised blinds and curtains. A luxury now, but when I'm old and cranky, I'll be able to lie in bed and croak "open the curtains"

I rub the hand rail on the back of my arm as I use stairs. Presume that should I need that stability, my arm will know exactly where it is. AND my hands don’t collect germs.

Wait, they're not just a fun 80s fashion accessory? Now I want them!

My absolute best example of how useful this is came from when I was working on a car, and unknowingly dragged my wrist right across something very sharp, very fast. It neatly cut right through my glove like butter - but not my skin!

This thread has me thinking I need to put some hand wipes in my bag because 🦠 and I need to start taking the stairs more often Thanks for the reminder

So much easier to use a bit of hand sanitizer than to heal a broken bone.

Yeah I fell down 3 flights of stairs in my late 20s and have gripped those rails ever since

The mining corp I worked at was in many ways the worst company imaginable, but they were serious about safety. Being caught going up stairs without using handrails, even in the office, was an immediate, no excuses, firing offense.

Training my current dog who likes to be moving while attached to go down/up ahead of me and stay there. Really important because often I am carrying things and can't hold on.

Alcohol doesn’t help awkward, rapidly growing teenage limbs navigate stairs, either. Who knew?

And even ones, actually…. I speak from experience.

After a knee injury that led to said knee giving out randomly I became part of team handrail. Every time. Saved me from several potentially serious falls.

I got bifocals about when I turned 40, and they make handrails somewhere between very helpful and absolutely necessary.

Almost four years ago I managed to break my leg when I stepped down off the stairs onto the platform and fell. Ever since I've been careful to hold the handrail when stepping off the stairs, not just when I'm on the stairs themselves!

thank goodness i have crappy knees that got me into the habit early 🫤

I initially was gonna reply with "wear gloves" but was afraid that would be too unappealing. I've been wearing fingerless gloves since I was a teen. they don't interfere with dexterity but protect pretty well. Hot, cold, no calluses from lots of activity. ^^

This'll sound weird but... every time I think I can just wing it up/down the stairs without the handrail, the voice of the Pusher/Shover Robots from The Terrible Secret of Space comes to mind, asking, "Do you have stairs in your house?" It works so I'm not knocking it, but WTF, brain??

I do the same thing! I started when we moved into a house with stairs- about age 40. It was because of the stairs, not my age. They are dangerous.

Glad I didn't misremember, and gladder still you have saved your ass a couple of times already!

And for me, habits are hard enough to build I didn't want to wait any longer than I already have. I still don't use them enough, and I've been trying to build the habit for years already.