Staying safe inside of the home takes the same amount of thoughtfulness as staying safe when you leave your home. For instance, when you are driving to and from work during these winter months, you are thoughtful about the road conditions, the weather, and the traffic. Staying aware of all of these things and how they can influence your trip is an important safety measure. 

When you are inside of your home, it is natural to let your guard down a bit and relax. After all, your home is where you go to get away from the dangers of the outside world and settle down a bit. But, statistics show that there are many dangers inside of your home to be aware of.

In fact, nearly 300,000 injuries each year occur in the bathroom. Most of these injuries are non-fatal but, they do land people in the emergency room with broken bones, head injuries, and various cuts and bruises.

To stay safe in your bathroom, make sure to follow these bathroom safety tips:

• If you have throw rugs on the floor in your bathroom, replace them with non-slip bathmats. Throw rugs will easily slip on a hard surface like linoleum or tile, and this could create the risk for a slip and fall accident. If you really love your throw rugs and would rather not replace them, add some non-slip material to the back of them using a needle and thread. Or, you could even affix them to the floor using adhesive or double-sided tape.
• If you have younger children in the home, make sure that they know to wipe the floor down after they have taken a shower. Kids are blissfully unaware of how dangerous a wet floor can be and, in their haste to get back to their game or TV show, they may just tear out of the bathroom without even using the bathmat that you have lovingly placed on the floor for them.
• Consider adding a nightlight to your bathroom for those middle of the night trips. Having a properly illuminated bathroom both day and night can make the difference between tripping and falling over something, and not. Things like dirty laundry, used towels, and step stools can easily be left behind on the bathroom floor after the bedtime routine. If your bathroom is well-lit, these items are easily seen and avoided.

Follow these tips for making sure that you and your family members are not one of the 300,000 annual bathroom injuries in the new year. Being mindful of where safety could be improved, and then taking the steps to be safer is the best way to avoid accidents.