Throughout the course of a day, most people experience a misstep or encounter a situation that might cause a stumble. For a younger person, they will often catch themselves or if they do fall, it's more likely that they can pick themselves up and go about their business. But for an older person, a stumble or a missed curb more frequently leads to a fall, often with more serious consequences than a minor bruise or just a bruised ego. Slips, trips, and falls constitute the majority of general industry accidents. They cause 15 percent of all accidental deaths, and are second only to motor vehicles as a cause of fatalities. A look at the changing demographics can help business owners better understand the risk of slips and falls in the workplace to their employees as well as their customers and others who visit their premises. In the United States, the proportion of the population aged greater than 65 years is projected to increase from 12.4% in 2000 to 19.6% in 2030; that's an increase of about 35 million people in 2000 to 71 million in 2030. The number of persons greater than 80 years is expected to increase from 9.3 million in 2000 to 19.5 million in 2030. The most populated states that have the largest number of people over 65 years are California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. Businesses have little control over the greying population. But there are adaptations that business can make to maintain a safe environment for the aging workforce and general public.
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