Babyproofing: Glass Shower Door Safety Hints
Summary: Nothing is more horrifying than when a small child accidentally breaks a glass shower door and is injured.  Learn some techniques and hints for baby proofing glass shower doors.

Homeowners love glass shower doors.  They are elegant and stylish looking, as well as being much simpler to keep clean than shower curtains and liners, which are traps for soap scum and mildew.  Yet if you have small children or invite people over who have small children, you can't help but worry about them accidentally breaking the glass.  

Statistics say that every year about 400 children under the age of 14 are injured on broken glass doors and windows.  One of the worst scenarios is when a child is visiting and isn't aware that a glass shower door is there.  What can you do, especially where toddlers and preschoolers are concerned, to babyproof these doors and make them safer?

If your home is newer, chances are the glass shower door is made from one of the types of safety glass now available.  These safer choices are required by law in some areas for building purposes.  Safety glass is available in three different types.  One is wired glass that has a wire mesh embedded in it.  Another is heat treated to be tougher.  This type of toughened glass tends to shatter into small pieces that are not as sharp as the shards of traditional glass.  The third type of safety glass contains a plastic inner layer sandwiched between two layers of glass with adhesive so the glass tends to stay together even when broken.

The least expensive way to turn old fashioned glass shower doors into a safer childproofed kind of glass is to get a roll of stick-on safety film and apply it to the glass.  This clear layer will help to keep the glass from splintering if it does get run into by a running child.

There are still other things you can try to minimize the chances of a child not seeing your glass shower doors.  For one thing, you can decorate the door with attractive decals and stickers.  Decals and transfers are available in all sorts of designs, so you are sure to find one that suits your bathroom decor.

In the bathroom, there are several safety hazards that make it easier to slip and fall, and thus possibly run into the glass shower door.  Try to keep water mopped up so that the floor is not wet and slick.  Also, be careful with throw rugs.  These can cause a child to trip and fall if they are not secure against the floor.  In the same way, toys that are left lying around can cause a person to trip and fall into the glass shower door, so keep those bathtub toys picked up.

A child can also slip and fall while in the shower if the floor is too slick.  Make sure you have a good rubber shower mat with rubber grippers that will not slip and will provide firm footing.  Another option is to use textured stick-on strips and shapes that are designed for this purpose.  These stickers are  available in most department and discount stores.

Bathrooms should always be well lit, too.  Have a fairly bright night light at least, and make sure small children know where the light switch is.  There are attachments that can bring the light switch down into the range of little ones who are too short to reach standard light switches.  

The best safety procedure, especially if children are visiting, who may forget that a glass shower door is in the bathroom, is to leave the light on in the bathroom at all times.  Use an energy saving compact fluorescent light bulb (sometimes called a squiggly bulb) and leaving the light on will not impact your electric bill very much.

If you like the look of textured glass shower doors, you can get plastic contact style paper that is translucent and can be applied to the outside of the doors.  There are also designs that look like elegant etchings or stained glass.  Textured looking glass shower doors add a feeling of privacy when showering, as well, so they make a nice option for childproofing the door.  For a few dollars extra, you can get a kit of special tools that make applying the textured plastic easier.  Do keep in mind that the change will be permanent if you are applying the contact paper to plexiglass.

If you are building or remodeling a home, make sure you choose the safest levels of glass for any kind of glass doors, whether on the shower, furniture, windows and entrances.  There are also high impact plastic shower doors you can choose to use, which look just like glass but are unbreakable.  Also remember that textured glass is easier to see, and while it might still be breakable, at least it is more likely that a young child will see it.

Hopefully, you will never have to deal with a broken glass shower door, but if you do, or whenever you have to deal with broken glass, be extremely careful.  Never wait around about cleaning it up.  Take care of the mess immediately.  Keep the child away from the mess.  Wear shoes and use a good broom to sweep up the small pieces you can't carefully pick up by hand.  It helps to have a trash can nearby when cleaning up a broken glass mess.  That way you do not have to carry the glass over any distance and risk dropping it somewhere else or risk cutting yourself.