Slippery When Wet - tribunedigital-chicagotribune
February 26, 1993 | By Nancy Maes. The bathroom can be a dangerous place, but it doesn't have to be. More and more manufacturers and designers are finding ways to make them safer. When California designer Gary White was asked to design a safe bathroom for the 1992 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show , the statistics on bathroom accidents guided his work. "The No. 1 cause of injuries in the home is slipping and falling," he says, "so the flooring in a bathroom should be textured so that it is slip-resistant." Grab bars and rails to hold onto when getting into and out of the bathtub can also prevent falls. For further safety, White used a foam- cushioned bathtub , as well as cabinets and countertops with large, rounded smooth shapes instead of sharp corners and edges, and benches to sit on when drying off and getting dressed. Burns from scalding hot water are the second leading cause of accidents in the bathroom. Children are particularly vulnerable to water that i...