Promoting Stair Use is Possible by Displaying Signs, Even for Stairs of 80 or 105 Steps

Installing signs is known to be effective in encouraging people to use stairs instead of escalators. However, it has been reported that the effectiveness of such signs is diminished as the number of stairs increases, and no effect was reported at 44 steps. Thus, this study examined whether stair use could be promoted even with 80 or 105 steps by presenting specific numerical values for the health benefits of using stairs. At two universities with parallel escalators and stairs (105 and 80 steps, respectively), we installed signs stating, "Going up one flight of stairs increases your life span by 4 seconds." A one-week baseline period was followed by a one-week intervention using signs displayed to passersby. Follow-up data were also collected for one week immediately after removing the signs. Measurements were collected Monday through Friday from 7:30 to 9:15 a.m. The number of passersby was recorded by categorizing them into four attributes: male and female students, and male and female faculty/staff. A total of 25,065 observations (963 stair users vs. 24,102 escalator users) at University A and 25,677 observations (1020 stair users vs. 24,657 escalator users) at University B were recorded. Sign installation promoted stair use at University A (odds ratio [OR], 1.513; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.307-1.752) and University B (OR, 1.221; 95% CI, 1.046-1.425). However, there was no effect of the sign installation on the population with attributes that had a high percentage of stair use prior to this study, implying that there is a ceiling effect on the effectiveness of such signs. The implication of the findings is that it is effective to provide detailed information to passersby on the health benefits of stair use for stairs with 80 or 105 steps.