There are three main issues to consider when reviewing the bathroom of your property.
Falls in the bath
Any fall associated with a bath or shower, whether that fall is on the same level or from one level to another. Fall from baths are particularly associated with persons over 60 years of age.
Impact on health
- Injuries from bath falls are cuts, lacerations, swelling, bruising and fractures.
- Death may occur weeks or months after the initial injury. May be as a result of cardio-respiratory illness, including heart attack/pneumonia.
Causes
- Slipping when getting in and out of a bath.
- Difficult to reach taps, waste and other bathroom controls.
- Inadequate space, heat and lighting in a bathroom can also increase falls.
Prevention
- Baths and showers should be stable and well fitted
- Slip resistant surfaces in baths and showers
- Include features such as handles or grab rails
- Having enough space to allow for dressing/undressing and drying without the risk of a fall.
Personal hygiene, Sanitation and Drainage
Risk of infection and threats to mental health. Associated with poor personal washing and clothes washing facilities.
Impact on health
- Gastro-intestinal illness
- Skin infections - rare occurrence
- Severe dysentery (between 2,000 and 20,000 notified cases per annum)
- Stress and depression
Causes
- Too few facilities for the number of occupants
- Cracks, chips and other damage to the surfaces of facilities
- Hands in contact with WC seat/basin.
- Discharge of untreated foul waste onto paths/gardens
- Waste water discharged onto paths or gardens
- Sharing facilities where there is infectious illness in households
- Higher risk of infection because of higher ratio of people to facilities
- Leaks may be unknown to the users but affect different dwellings in the same building.
Prevention
Personal hygiene
- Adequate number of baths or showers for (potential) occupants
- Bathroom/shower room to have privacy, heating, lighting and ventilation.
- Adequate number of wash hand basins for occupants
- Sinks connected to the waste drainage for each dwelling/household
- Appropriate facilities for washing machine/clothes drying/adjacent power sockets/vent outlets.
Sanitation
- installed WC basin with hinged seat and lid. Made of impervious and easy to clean material
- WC connected to a working flushing system
- WC connected to adequate drainage system
- Number of WC closets adequate for the number of people in the dwelling (irrespective of age)
- WC compartments separate from bathrooms
- Bathrooms ventilated to external air
- Lockable doors from inside to compartments/bathrooms but openable in emergency.
Drainage
- Waste and surface water discharged into properly designed trapped drainage inlets/vertical drains. Connected to the main sewerage system.
- Properly designed soakaways for private treatment or storage system for foul sewage
- Systems connected to sewer
Legionella in the bathroom
Legionnaires' disease is a form of pneumonia. Caused by the inhalation of water droplets containing Legionella. All man-made hot and cold water systems could provide an environment where it can grow. The risks from residential hot and cold water systems are low. This is due to regular water usage and turnover of supply.
Consider the following before renting out a property:
- flushing out the system.
- avoiding debris getting into the system.
- setting temperature controls to 60°C for hot water storage.
- Remove any redundant pipework
- consideration of standing water within the system. For example, student accommodation left empty over the summer vacation.