The home safety equipment list, room by room

Get the house assessed before you buy anything

The single most useful step in this whole category costs nothing in equipment. An occupational therapist visits the house, watches how your parent actually moves through it, and produces a list specific to that person and that building.

This matters because equipment fitted in the wrong place is not neutral. A grab bar that is not anchored into structure can come away from the wall when weight is put on it. A rail at the wrong height gets used differently than intended. A shower chair that is the wrong size for the cubicle does not get used.

How to arrange an assessment: ask your parent's doctor for a referral, ask the hospital discharge planner if there has been a recent admission, or contact your local Area Agency on Aging and ask what home assessment programmes exist in the county. Some are free. Ask what the waiting time is.

While you wait, walk the house yourself and write down what you notice, room by room, with photographs. That record is what the therapist can work from and what you can show a sibling.

Some links on this page are affiliate links and we may earn a commission if you buy through one. We do not test equipment and we do not recommend specific items for specific people.

Bathroom

This is where the money should go first in most houses, and where the difference between a fitted item and a suction-cup item is largest.

Grab bars. The important distinction is between bars screwed into wall studs or solid blocking, and suction-cup bars that stick to tile. The screwed kind is a fitting job — a handyman or an installer, and often not expensive. The suction kind is a balance aid at most and should never be treated as load-bearing. Where bars should go, and how many, comes from the assessment.

Shower chair or bench. Sold as free-standing, wall-mounted or transfer bench, which extends over the tub edge. Measure the cubicle or tub interior before ordering; returns in this category are tedious.

Raised toilet seat or a frame with arms. Sold as clip-on seats, seats with integrated arms, and floor-standing frames. Height and fixing method vary; take a photo of the toilet before you shop.

Handheld shower head on a hose. Inexpensive, usually a ten-minute job.

Non-slip mats, inside and outside the tub.

Lever taps in place of round knobs.

Ask the occupational therapist which of these suit your parent, and ask the installer to confirm what the wall behind the tile actually is.

Stairs, floors and lighting

Handrails. Ask whether both sides of the staircase should have one, and whether the existing rail is secure — many are attached to plasterboard alone. A handyman can check and re-fix in an afternoon.

Stair lifts. The large purchase in this category. Straight-run lifts are mass produced and cheaper; curved staircases need a custom rail and cost substantially more. Get at least three quotes and ask each one: is this new or reconditioned, what is the warranty, what does the service contract cost annually, what happens in a power cut, and what does removal cost later. Also ask about the used market, which is real, and about local loan schemes.

Thresholds and small ramps. Moulded rubber or aluminium wedges for a raised doorstep. Cheap, no fitting in most cases.

Rugs. Either removed or fixed down with double-sided tape or a proper underlay.

Lighting. Motion-sensor night lights in the hallway and bathroom, plug-in and inexpensive. Brighter bulbs on the stairs. A lamp that can be switched on from the bed rather than across the room.

Trailing cables clipped to the skirting.

Lighting is the cheapest line on this page and often the one that changes the most about how the house feels after dark.

Bedroom, kitchen and the front door

Bedroom. A bed rail or a bed cane is a category where the FDA has published consumer guidance on entrapment risks — read it and ask the doctor or occupational therapist before adding one. A firm chair beside the bed. A lamp and a phone within reach without standing. A clear route from bed to bathroom with nothing on the floor.

Kitchen. Move the everyday items — plates, mugs, the kettle, the tea — to between waist and shoulder height, so nothing routine requires a stool or a stretch to the back of a low cupboard. A kettle tipper. Jar openers. An automatic shut-off device for the hob, which an electrician or appliance fitter can advise on. Reduce reaching before you buy any gadget.

Front door. A key safe or lockbox, fitted where responders can reach it, with the code recorded somewhere the family can find. A doorbell with a chime loud enough to be heard from the back of the house. Outside lighting on a sensor. A chair or a shelf near the door for putting bags down.

Everywhere. Working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms with a tested date written on them, and a written note of who checks them and when.

What to check before you order, and who fits it

Ordering the wrong size is the most common waste of money in this category, and the second is buying an item nobody fits.

- Measure and photograph first. Doorway widths, tub interior, toilet height, cubicle dimensions, seat heights.
- Ask what fitting the item needs. Screwed into structure, or free-standing? If screwed, who is doing it and do they know what is behind the wall?
- Ask about weight capacity, and take the stated figure seriously.
- Check the return window before ordering anything large or fitted.
- Ask about insurance and benefit coverage. Some items may be covered when a doctor documents them as durable medical equipment. Ask your parent's insurer what their process is and ask the doctor what they need to provide. Do not assume from a product page.
- Ask your local Area Agency on Aging about equipment loan closets and grant programmes. Many counties run them and almost nobody knows.
- Ask a veterans' service officer if your parent is a veteran, because separate programmes may apply.

Get quotes in writing for anything installed. Three quotes for a stair lift, two for a bathroom fit-out.

Walk the house with a list instead of a feeling

Doing this room by room, with something to write on, changes the outcome. Without a list you notice the obvious hazard and miss the four things that only matter at 2am in the dark.

What to record in each room: what is on the floor, what requires reaching or stooping, what needs a light that is not there, what would be hard to get out of, and what your parent avoids doing when you are not watching. Photograph anything you would want to describe to somebody else. Date the page.

Then take that record to the occupational therapist or the doctor. A dated walkthrough with photographs is a far better starting point than a verbal description, and it is also the record that ends the argument with a sibling who was not there.

Our Home Safety & Fall Audit is exactly that, printable: a room-by-room walkthrough with prompts for each room, a photo checklist, an equipment inventory page for what is already fitted and what it cost, a page for what to ask the professional, and a re-check page for six months' time.

It does not tell you what to change. It makes sure nothing goes unlooked-at and gives you a dated record to hand over.

Questions