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A study by Ohio State says that most children are supervised while they are injured in the bathtub. A majority of parents were aware of bathtub dangers and had tried to prevent injury with bath tub mats or slip resistant strips. A new category of “stick down” bath mats may lead to fewer injuries and is easier to clean

Sacramento,California (PRWEB) March 21, 2007 82% of childhood bathtub related injuries are due to slips and falls. More shocking is the fact that most children are supervised while they are injured. A study conducted by the Ohio State University College of Medicine (www.cpj.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/44/4/311 ) states that adult supervision was present during 85% of the injuries among children younger than 5 years of age. The study which was conducted over a 3 year period was based on emergency room and does not include injuries where the child was not taken to an emergency room. The most frequent location of injury was the head or face (68%).

Increased awareness will unlikely reduce the number of injuries since 84% of parents reported that they had been aware before the injury occurred about the dangers of the bathing environment. A majority of bathrooms (70%) had slip resistant surfaces outside of the tub usually bath mat or bath rug. Inside the tub, 40% had slip resistant strips on the tub surface and 29% had bath mats in the tub.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission states that a permanent, slip-resistant tub surface would be the most effective measure to prevent injuries due to slips and falls in the tub. The ASTM has a voluntary standard (ASTM F462-79) for tub surfaces but it does not include real world conditions such as the wet and soapy conditions found in the bathtub. Also the standard does not take into account the different needs of a child versus and adult.

Furthermore, most bath tub mats can be hard to keep clean. In fact a leading expert on About.com Parenting (www.video.about.com/childparenting/About-Water-Safety.htm) states, “Some parents place bathmats or adhesive strips on the bottom of their tub to keep the kids from slipping around. I have found, though, that these items are really hard to keep clean.” Typical bath tub mats attach using suction cups thereby trapping water which eventually leads to mold and mildew growth. Slip resistant strips are easier to clean, but fail to cover much of the tub surface or increase traction adequately.

A new category of “stick down” bath tub mats may provide a better solution. Combining marine grade foam rubber with a non-permanent peel and stick adhesive, Gator Grip bath tub mats compress from the weight of a person standing on it, even a child. This leads to more contact area and greatly increases traction. Channels in the material allow water to flow underneath the foot similar to the way tread designs work on automobile tires to prevent hydroplaning. Cleaning is made easier by the fact that Gator Grip is made from a polymer pseudo rubber that is inherently mold and mild resistant. By sealing to the tub surface, water does not get underneath Gator Grip preventing mold and mildew growth which is so common with suction cup bath mats.

The Gator Grip material was originally designed back in the 1990’s for marine use such as boats and jetskis to increase slip resistance on decks and walking surfaces. A secondary requirement is easy cleaning which typically consists of nothing more that washing down with a hose. US Customs uses Gator Grip on the decks of their Homeland Security Patrol Boats.

Full length GatorGrip bath tub mats sell for $29.99 at www.noslipgatorgrip.com

The Gator Grip Story (from Gator Grip product packaging)

One evening my wife asked me to watch our 1 year old son in the bathtub so she could do some housework. He was just beginning to walk and she didn’t want him falling down. She then looked at me and said, “You know the GatorGrip you sell for boats and jetskis would work great in a bathtub.”

I looked at her and replied, “It’s soft on the feet, holds up to most chemicals, and it is easy to keep clean!”

After a year of using it for our son and letting our grandparents try it, we decided that the rest of the world would love GatorGrip in their bathtub as well. We hope you enjoy GatorGrip in the bathtub as much as we and our boys (now 3 of them) do.

-Nick and Christine

Contact:
Nick White
Marketing Director GatorGrip
www.noslipgatorgrip.com (images for media use available on website)
gatorgrip@sbcglobal.net