Posted By CJ We have an ongoing problem of students slipping whilst getting out of the shower trays. We have installed anti slip trays (which should have solved the problem), flooring and matting for outside the showers and I am not sure what else we can do except improving the warning signs. No anti slip mat can be put inside the shower tray due to the uneven surface of the particular brand. I was wondering if anyone else has dealt with this kind of thing successfully? Also how liable would we be if an accident happened, bearing in mind the improvements that have been made? I'm getting to the opinion now that they are just being careless, under the influence of alcohol or in a rush and no matter what improvements are made sometimes accidents happen. Any advice would be appreciated.

Posted By Ian Bruce CJ, I went through similar pain a couple of years ago when we had prisoners slipping in the showers. We had what was allegedly anti slip surfaces applied to the showers during construction, but the grit component was of a small dimension and when wet and especially with shower gel/shampoo, it really was quite slippy. There was also a problem as you exited the shower bund and stepped onto the living unit floor - polished epoxy coated concrete - again slips were common. The solution we came up with was a high grit component surface coating on a fibreglass substrate panel that was bolted to the existing floor and sealed around the edges with a mastic product. Not very comfortable, but we didn't want them spending too long in there anyway, if you get my drift! We did consider matting products but these would require regular cleaning/disinfection routines that would have been difficult to effect and keep up. Originally we did issue all prisoners with flip flops as the other respondent has mentioned, however, in another prison, using the same flip flops, a prisoner slipped and fell and the blame was firmly attached to the flip flop, it was found to not be suitable as a regular use piece of footwear and the prison ended up paying compensation to the individual concerned. I'm sorry, can't remember too much detail on this one, but I know it cost them a lot of money and credibility. Hope this helps.

Posted By Bryn Maidment "prisoners slipping in the showers" - ROTFLMAO! Is that the Prison Service equivalent of the Police "they fell down the stairs" ? I was going to mention flip-flops but Linda beat me to it. On reflection, flip-flops were OK in the flip-flop / deck (floor) interface but were badly let down by the poor foot / flip-flop interface i.e. the footwear stayed glued to the deck but ya foot slipped sideways with the 'thong' piece always managing to sever the piece of skin betwixt the big toe and it's neighbour. This was more acute when the ship rolled and was sometimes accompanied by a head / grey painted metal box interaction. The RN used to make great use of decktread strips outside showers so the rough flooring mentioned by other respondents is probably the way to go.

Posted By Jane Blunt Another thought. I visited a University campus this summer and stayed in their accommodation. The shower tray was several centimetres above the level of the floor outside, and I felt it necessary to take extreme care stepping out with wet feet to a lower level. In these circumstances stepping down is much more dangerous than stepping up. I would have appreciated a handle or rail to grab hold of. Jane

Posted By CJ Jane, It looks like that is the problem, the shower trays are much higher than the surrounding floor, because of this it seems their back feet are slipping while exiting the tray. We've had about 5-7 incidents in the last 3 years, 2 of them reasonably serious, I don't know if that is an acceptable number considering we have approx 700 students and big changes would cost ££££££££. I think whatever I do this problem will still exist to a certain extent, nevermind. Thank you all for your advice, CJ.

Posted By Jane Blunt And in future builds how about specifying that the shower floor and the changing area are at the same level? Stepping down is always going to be dangerous, whether it is into or out of the shower tray. Jane

Posted By Ken Taylor Is someone cleaning these things properly (the shower trays, not the students). We install a perpendicular grab-rail from floor to ceiling at the entrance to shower cubicles for our elderly residents and I suspect that students would equally benefit from one of these. Much of the modern student accommodation one sees these days has 'wet rooms' (containing shower, WC pan and wash-basin) with continuous floors falling to drainage without steps or bunds. I dislike them personally (the rooms not the students) but they may help with your problem.