Review Article: Environmental Hazards at Home and Ergonomics as Fall Prevention for Elderly Population

Abstract

This review is aimed to suggest opportunities where physiological concept may be useful to design trends to suit this rapid increase of elderly Thai population. A review of articles is presented to establish background information on the circumstance of the country which is entering the stage of becoming aging society. Also, the review provides comprehensive discussion from falls in older people to fall prevention which can be managed by interior design of the ergonomics concept. The review indicates that falls result from a complex interaction between personal factors (e.g., vision, hearing, posture, and gait) and environmental factors (environmental hazards) generating challenges and barriers related to the built environment (e.g., bathroom, built-in and loose furniture, flooring and stepping, and lighting). In this review, design recommendations which focus on bathroom function are described to promote better design integration with egonomics as a component of interior design for falls prevention strategy. Forming understanding of falls, what can increase chance of falls and what can be done as a precaution in terms of design will bring more possible opportunities to reduce the incidence, minimize chance of consequent injuries, improve overall well-being of older adults as well as possibly give inspiration on improving the quality of life.