Shower Doors - Staying Safe

Safety may not be at the front of our minds when we step out of our shower doors, but bathrooms can pose dangers.

Stepping out of our shower doors should be a relatively uneventful task, and yet a Health and Safety research project costing £12,000 looked into this very matter. It seems opening our shower doors could be potentially problematic. The research examined the risk of slipping when we step out of our shower doors. Is it best to have a towel on the floor or could towels in fact increase the risk of a fall? Although many of us would only give this question a fleeting thought when we step out of our shower doors, the researchers looked in depth into the question with their paper: The Role of Towels as a Control to Reduce Slip Potential.

Shower Doors – Health and Safety Investigates

If you haven't thought twice about the risks you face stepping through shower doors, it's worth spending a minute to look at the conclusions of the research. Slipping in a bathroom is, after all, potentially catastrophic. Bathrooms tend to be filled with hard surfaces – as well as the floor, there's the risk of hitting your head on hard sinks and toilet seats. And it's crucial you have safety glass in your shower door – there have been horrific stories of people being badly cut after slipping in the shower and falling through their shower doors. The story of rugby player Scott Quinnell for example shows how serious it can be – he suffered serious injuries with glass embedded into this arm, hand and knee after falling through a shower door, severing his right tricep. He was simple getting into the shower and slipped. It shows that it isn't just the elderly for example who are vulnerable to slipping – Quinnell was a fit professional sportsman.

50,000 Hospital Visits from Bathroom Falls

One of the reasons why we might be at risk of slipping when we step through our shower doors is often we're half asleep when we take a shower first thing in the morning. Not cleaning the shower tray regularly or being absent minded and leaving a bar of soap on the floor can contribute to slipping risks. The Health and Safety Executive researched whether towels would help or hinder by splashing different floor surfaces with water and measuring the friction from the towel rubbing against the floor. However, the research was inconclusive. It may sound to some like health and safety gone mad, but over 50,000 people end up in hospital every year after falling over in their bathrooms.

Looking for Shower Doors? Speak to HeatandPlumb.com

HeatandPlumb.com is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of plumbing goods for homes and businesses. Offering a range of leading supplies for bathrooms, kitchens and businesses at fantastic prices, HeatandPlumb.com has a sales team with over 60 years of collective experience. If you need expert advice or to find out more about the range of showers, plumbing and heating accessories on offer from HeatandPlumb.com, just call 0871 272 22 22 or fill in our online enquiry form.