Vipin and Vineeta – a super happy couple in their 50’s living in Mumbai suddenly had their lives turned upside down when Vineeta took a tumble in the bathroom. She slipped and fell fracturing her hip bone for which an immediate surgical intervention was required. More people are injured, sometimes even fatally, in bathroom falls than in any other room in the house.
According to a research report by the Home Safety Council, preventable home injuries are the fifth largest cause of death in the U.S. And safety researchers point to the bathroom, along with the kitchen and stairs, as the most dangerous zones in the house. Do you know why your bathroom is so unsafe?
It’s water, water everywhere!
The trouble is, water doesn’t always stay where it is supposed to. Poorly fitted shower curtains that do not restrict the water in the shower area and wet feet are the two biggest causes of water winding up on the bathroom floor everywhere. Most slip and fall accidents that occur in the home, happen in the bathroom when you are coming out after a shower; or maybe when you are entering one with wet floor. So the problem lies with wet floor, wet feet and a shower curtain that isn’t doing a great job of keeping the rest of the bathroom dry.
Keep the wet floor dry to avoid bathroom accidents.
While you can mop the water from the wet floor after bathing to keep things dry, but ensuring it dry after every bath can sometimes be challenging. In addition, finding a shower curtain that would ensure that no water leaks onto the dry area of the bathroom floor is nearly impossible. Unless you have a bathtub in place and minimise the leak by hanging a curtain liner that falls inside the tub and a second decorative liner that falls outside.
Wet floor means dirty floors.
If you forget drying the bathroom floor, you might need to clean it over again. Wet surfaces attract dust and dirt particles much more easily than dry ones, which you bring along with your shoes and bare feet every time you visit your bathroom. In addition, you risk getting ugly footprints on the floor. Find a dry mop to go over the wet floor to avoid dirty unhygienic conditions. Moisture offers ideal conditions for bacteria to grow.
Can Shower Enclosures be the ideal Solution?
The ideal solution to the problem would be a shatter-proof glass shower enclosure for the shower area rather than a leaky shower curtain which create a slip and fall hazard, especially for elderly people and the young ones of the house, who are more prone to bathroom accidents. They significantly reduce chances of any mishap in the bathroom, as the glass panels ensure that there will be no water on the floor by separating the wet and dry areas. After a bath, you step out on a towel or a mat to keep your feet dry, so no more water dripping on the dry area of the bathroom outside the enclosure; and that means less clean up required after your shower. The glass shower enclosures are made of special toughened, tempered, safety glass, which make them impact resistant – they are five times stronger than regular annealed glass – and turn to harmless shards if they ever break, which is very few and far between. If a shower enclosure glass door ever breaks, which can be due to improper installation, the safe thing to do is throw a large towel over the shards so you can exit safely.
To avoid slips inside a shower enclosure, try tiles with a slightly uneven surface (such as bumpy smaller tiles, rather than large, smooth squares) that feet can grip onto. You can also have a good gripping shower mat laid on the floor. Besides install well-anchored shower grab bars into the walls of the shower area, instead of using the towel racks for support.
Shower Enclosure an integral part of modern bathrooms.
Besides serving the functional purpose of separating wet and dry areas a shower enclosure gives elegance and style to the bathroom and helps create storage space. It takes the aesthetic of the bathroom to the next level. Shower enclosure makes bathroom dry, hygienic and safe, restricting the water inside the wet room only, thus keeping it clean and making it bacteria free.
The world is switching from shower curtains to shower enclosures… Are you??
To view Shower Enclosures from Jaquar: