As a home inspector, I often encounter decks that pose serious safety risks to homeowners and guests. Some of the common hazards of decks are:

• Improperly attached ledger boards that can cause the deck to separate from the house and collapse¹².
• Rotten, warped, cracked or infested deck boards that can break or cause splinters³.
• Loose or missing fasteners, nails, or screws can cause injuries or instability¹³.
• Weak or missing railings that can lead to falls⁴³.

Since 2003, I-J.S.2 deck collapses have caused thousands of reported injuries and deaths.
The most tragic deck collapse occurred in Chicago in June 2003, when a porch collapsed, killing 13 and injuring 57. This incident raised nationwide concerns about deck and porch safety.

Although the number of people injured by outdoor wood decks and porches appears to be on the rise, a comprehensive study to determine the actual number of injuries has not been conducted.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has administered the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), a national probability sample of U.S. hospitals, for more than 25 years. The NEISS program collects patient information from hospital emergency rooms in order to determine the frequency and severity of injuries caused by consumer products. The sample is then extrapolated to estimate the total number of product-related injuries treated in emergency rooms across the nation. In an effort to reduce the number of injuries and deaths associated with consumer products, hundreds of categories are recorded daily and the information is made available to the general public. Decks, porches and balconies, railings, and stairs comprise three of the NEISS categories. This section provides an analysis of the aforementioned data.

To prevent these dangers, I recommend regular deck inspection and maintenance by a qualified professional. A safe deck is a happy deck!

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