A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

Keven Moore: If you think the kitchen is the most dangerous room in your house, think again . .


Most dangerous?  Yes, the bathroom (CDC graphic)

Most dangerous? Yes, the bathroom (CDC graphic)

What is the most dangerous room in the house?

If you said the bathroom, you’d be right.

Just ask rocker Steven Tyler, who took a tumble in a bathroom in Paraguay. Or Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who had a serious injury in his home bathroom.

Drownings, electrocutions, falls … these are just some of the mishaps that lead to injury and, in rare cases, death. One study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that every year about 235,000 people over the age 15 visit emergency rooms because of injuries suffered in the bathroom. Among those, nearly 14 percent are hospitalized. That’s an average of 640 people per day who are injured in their bathrooms all across the United States.

Each week KyForward’s “resident riskologist” Keven Moore shines the light on America’s riskiest behaviors – from unsafe driving practices to workplace stress to common home accidents. And in the process, he provides the information needed to help people play it a little safer.

More than a third of the injuries happen while bathing or showering, and more than 14 percent occur while using the toilet. And this is interesting … he bathroom injury rate for women is 72 percent higher than for men. There could be much speculation as to why that is so, but maybe it’s because women spend more time in the bathroom doing such things as shaving their legs while standing on one foot. It could also be that women are more likely to seek treatment after an accident, while men tend to ignore the injury to avoid embarrassment.

Also interesting, younger people were more likely to be hurt in or around the tub, while older people sustained more injuries on or near the toilet.

The CDC study also found that more than 80 percent of bathroom-related injuries were caused by a slip, trip and fall injury. Most of these injuries occur while getting in and out of the shower or tub and often lead to fractures, lacerations, scrapes and contusions.
Several years ago, a former classmate of mine, in the prime of her life, slipped in the bathtub and hit her head; she crawled into bed, where she hemorrhaged to death.

grab-bar-thinkstockphotos-516140639-100x150

Bathtubs can be extremely dangerous – in fact, only home swimming pools are the site of more drownings than the bathtub.

Slip, trip and fall injuries can be attributed to a number of things, including going to the bathroom at night, in the dark, and while taking medication that can decrease your sure-footedness. In fact, there are some medications can lead to lightheadedness and sometimes cause people to lose consciousness after using the toilet.

Injuries getting on and off the toilet are quite high in people 65 and older, and the study indicated that injuries increase with age, peaking after age 85. People over 85 suffer more than half of their injuries near the toilet.

It’s impossible to guard against all accidents, but there some things you can do to decrease the likelihood of a bathroom injury:

‣ Install grab bars, safely anchored into the wall inside and outside the shower or bathtub, as well as near the toilet.
‣ Educate the elderly that sliding glass doors in showers are not designed to support a person’s weight and this could lead to a more severe injury when the doors come off the tracks.
‣ Look to anchor towel racks into a wall stud, but they too are typically not designed to bare weight.
‣ Install non-slip matting in your bathroom.
‣ When replacing a tub/shower, consider one with a more slip-resistant surface in the flooring.
‣ For the elderly, install a lower threshold or a walk-in tub, which makes it much easier to get in and out of.

Be safe, my friends.

Keven-Moore_102

Keven Moore works in risk management services. He has a bachelor’s degree from University of Kentucky, a master’s from Eastern Kentucky University and 25-plus years of experience in the safety and insurance profession. He lives in Lexington with his family and works out of both the Lexington and Northern Kentucky offices. Keven can be reached at kmoore@roeding.com.


Related Posts

Leave a Comment