Most of us want to stay in our homes as we age. And voluntary standards organizations, along with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), are an important part of making sure the products we rely on to make our homes safe and accessible are reliable and trustworthy.
From slippery bathroom surfaces, to unstable furniture that can tip over, to carbon monoxide leaks, hazards at home can be major barriers to aging in place. Here’s how standards play a role in reducing those barriers
How do product safety standards make bathrooms safer?
Falls are the leading cause of injury for adults 65 and older,1 and most of the falls that send older adults to the emergency room happen in bedrooms, on stairways, or in bathrooms.2 The risk of falling increases with age, and bathrooms have many smooth and often wet surfaces where a slip could happen. It’s a good idea to improve the safety of your bathroom by retrofitting it to lower falls risks.
Experts including the CPSC recommend that bathtubs and showers are equipped with:
- Non-skid mats
- Abrasive strips or
- Surfaces that are not slippery and have at least one secure and easily graspable grab bar
When purchasing these items, consumers can look for labels that indicate compliance with a recognized voluntary consensus standard to make sure the product meets relevant standards.
How to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning
You can’t see or smell carbon monoxide, but at high levels it can kill a person in minutes. Carbon monoxide (CO) is produced whenever any fuel is burned. If appliances that burn fuel are maintained and used properly, the amount of CO produced is usually not hazardous. Yet dangerous levels of CO can result if appliances are not working properly or are used incorrectly, resulting in hundreds of deaths. The CDC says infants, the elderly, and people with chronic heart disease, anemia, or breathing problems are more prone to illness or death—but CO doesn't discriminate; everyone is at risk.3
Prevention is the key to avoiding CO poisoning, and the best way to do that is with CO alarms. Experts recommend:
- Installing CO alarms in a central location outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home
- Choosing a CO alarm that has the label of a recognized testing laboratory
For prevention, have fuel-burning heating equipment and chimneys inspected by a professional every year.
Why preventing furniture and appliance tip-over accidents is important
Hundreds of thousands of adults age 65 and older are treated in hospital emergency rooms each year due to injuries associated with consumer products, according to the CPSC. Injury from a piece of furniture, television, or appliance that is not properly secured is a very real risk that impacts older adults each year—and dressers may present the greatest hazard. A new law, the STURDY Act, has come into effect to reduce injuries and deaths associated with the tip-over of clothing storage units such as chests of drawers, dressers, armoires, and bureaus. The CPSC enforces the STURDY Act, with the standard ASTM F2057, Standard Safety Specification for Clothing Storage Units, as a mandatory requirement.
How can you make sure your dresser is covered? The Consumer Federation of America recommends that, when purchasing new clothing storage furniture, ask if the product complies with the new safety requirements under the STURDY Act.
Check for recalls to help keep your home safe
There’s a lot of information out there, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming! The CPSC publishes unsafe product reports in a searchable, public database. You can search to find out whether any products in your home (or something that you may be thinking about buying) could pose a risk to you or your family.
For aging in place and caregiving, it’s important to check saferproducts.gov. Millions of items have been recalled for two safety products:
- Portable adult bed rails: Check if the portable adult bed rails in your home have been recalled—more than 100,000 have recently for one type alone. If the item has been recalled, do not use it and see if the recall includes information on how to return or get a refund. If purchasing new adult bed-rails, visit this CPSC page for details that will help you make the safer choice.
- Fire extinguishers and other fire prevention products: There are millions of product recalls in this category, including fire extinguishers. Check saferproducts.gov to make sure your product has not been recalled.
Help protect consumers by being a standards volunteer
Standards happen thanks to the work of thousands of people, including academics, manufacturers, and consumers themselves, building consensus about product safety and efficiency. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is especially interested in having older adults as standards volunteers. Want to learn more?
- Join the Jan. 9 webinar How Can Consumers Contribute to Standards Development?
- Find out about current opportunities to participate on a standards committee
The bottom line: standards are here to help
You don’t need to navigate this alone: there are systems in place to help consumers make the best decisions to create a safe home environment. The U.S. standards community and the public servants at the CPSC are working to make sure products and services are safe, and that consumers have access to information to make homes safer—like this Home Safety Checklist for Older Consumers. To learn more about standards development and the role consumers play in the process, visit the American National Standards Institute’s website.
Sources
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Older Adult Falls Data. Found on the internet at https://www.cdc.gov/falls/data-research/index.html
2. Briana L. Moreland, et al. A Descriptive Analysis of Location of Older Adult Falls That Resulted in Emergency Department Visits in the United States, 2015. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. Aug. 7, 2020. Found on the internet at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8669898/
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Basic. Found on the internet at https://www.cdc.gov/carbon-monoxide/about/index.html
See if you're at risk for falling.
Falls threaten the safety and independence for older Americans and can create a heavy economic and personal burden. Check to see if you’re at risk of falling with NCOA’s Falls Free CheckUp tool.
