Our Home Depot Community Forum associates are truly experts in the home improvement field. They are always on the lookout for the latest trends in home design and ways to make your dream home a reality. Some associates look beyond design trends and find ways to blend trending news topics with home improvement. Forum Associate DesigningWoman accomplishes this gracefully with her post “My Top 10 Tips for Bathroom Safety.”

 DesigningWoman cites the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which reveals the details of a study into the number of injuries occurring in the home. According to the report, nearly 234,000 people age 15 and older received emergency room treatment in 2008. Most injuries occurred in bathrooms, and four out of five were the result of falls.  Here are Forum Associate DesigningWoman’s tips for making your bathroom safer.

1. Use a non-slip surface on the bathroom floor to prevent falls getting out of the tub or shower.

2. Create a non-slip surface in the bathing area to prevent falls while showering and bathing.

3. Use grab bars inside and outside showers and tubs and around toilets for added stability.

4. Convert an old bathtub to a new walk-in shower with built-in grab bars and shower seat.

5. Install a walk-in tub to make it easier to get in and out of the tub without falling.

6. Secure everything to the wall.

7. Provide the right height for toilet seats.

8. Install GFCI switches to reduce the risk of electric shock in wet areas.

9. Improve bathroom visibility at night by adding a motion sensing night light.

10. Prevent burns by setting water heater temperature to 120 degrees Farenheit.

Are you remodeling your bathroom? Have you made bathroom safety a priority?