Containing Water in the Shower Area and Minimizing Falls

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There are different strategies for containing water in the shower area and minimizing risks for slips and falls.  If we are using tile, one of the strategies that we will need to use for sloping the floor towards the drain is the use of mosaic tile.  The mosaic tile accomplishes two things.  One, I just mentioned is the sloping of the floor towards the drain.  It also provides more grout lines and the grout gives more traction for the individual, which makes it less likely for them to slip and fall.  There are some contractors out there who talk about notching out the jousts to accomplish that sloping of the floor to the drain, and they do custom concrete pans that are set, but there are systems that are structural, provide sloping, and they come to such a thin point that they do not require that you have to notch out those floor jousts.  When you notch out the floor jousts, it becomes an issue if you have a higher weight individual who is then on jousts that are less secure.  You can have high pressure points that are isolated, on the bottom of the main tires of the wheelchair which can cause failure.    For the water, we also want to use high friction materials and the mosaic tile should also be higher friction for more slip resistance.  We want to also use a weighted, long, heavy shower curtain.  This helps to contain the water really well.   The shower curtain is important, as is having a strong shower rod and shower rings, to keep our patients safe.  One of the most commonly used items in the case of a fall is the shower curtain.  If we have a weak, rusted shower rod, it can be a failure point.  We want to be attentive for containing the water as well as from a safety standpoint with the shower curtain, rod, and rings.