Surrey Co., UK
Slips, trips and falls trips pose far greater risks for young children at bath time than do overheated water or overfull tubs.
Researchers are reporting in the journal Pediatrics that more than 43,000 children require medical attention each year because they have fallen and injured themselves in the bathtub or shower. This accounts for more than 80 percent of bathing injuries, and most of the these children are younger than 5 years old. Cuts to the face, neck and head occur most frequently.
Dr. Gary Smith, who with colleagues from the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital analyzed 18 years of injury reports filed with the U.S. Consumer Products Safety commission, noted that making tubs and showers safer was the best way to avoid mishaps.
"Unfortunately, adult supervision isn't enough to prevent these injuries," Smith said in a press release. "They happen so quickly that a parent simply can't react quickly enough to prevent them."
While Smith did note that parents or caregivers need to be in the bathroom with infants and toddlers at all times, they emphasized that "environmental changes, such as making surfaces more slip-resistant, are the best methods to prevent bathtub- and shower-related injuries."
Recommended safety measures include placing antislip mats in and outside tubs and shower stalls, ensuring that any bath doors are shatterproof and installing grip bars along bath walls. Smith and his coauthors also called on bathroom fixture makers and federal regulators to reevaluate standards for coefficient of friction--the measure of a surface's slipperiness--in order to reduce risks for falls.
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