University Health Network

Purpose

Grab bars are installed on washroom walls to allow people with and without disabilities to safely use washroom facilities, by providing support for recovering balance from a slip/trip, to maintain balance while stepping into and out of bathtubs and showers, and maintain balance while transferring between standing and sitting. To reduce the risk that a grab bar will detach from the wall and cause a fall and injury to users, the National Building Code of Canada prescribes a conservatively high structural strength requirement. The limited biomechanical evidence to date focused on bathroom tasks indicates that user applied loads may be below NBC requirements. There is added expense and planning required to meet current NBC loading requirements which may present a barrier to installation. A gap in evidence remains on applied grab bar loads during high-loading bathing tasks (e.g. sit-to-stand from the bathtub floor). Through collaboration with the NRC’s Aging-in-Place Research Program and KITE Research Institute-University Health Network, this study aims to fill this evidence gap by evaluating the applied grab bar loads during sit-to-stand transfers. This will provide critical biomechanical evidence to inform the structural strength requirements for grab bars in the National Building Code of Canada