In 2020, Idah Nakitto lost her husband as a result of an accident in the bathroom. According to Nakitto, her husband was a healthy 40-year- old active man who unfortunately succumbed to death after slipping in the bathroom.
“It was a normal morning. We woke up, I went to prepare his breakfast and press his clothes before I could go into the bathroom to take a bath so that we go to work. When I went to the bedroom I expected to find him dressing up as he listened to BBC but that is not what I found,” she said.
According to Nakitto, after finding the bedroom empty, she knocked on the bathroom door but there was no answer. After trying three times with no answer, she entered to find that her husband was lying on the floor.
“I remember I shouted for help but we were alone in the house. There was no one to help me.By the time I remembered to look for my phone, I think it was late. The ambulance people who came declared him dead,” she adds.
Such scenarios have become common in the country. In September 2020, former Kampala Mayor Nasser Ntege Sebaggala also slipped in his bathroom and was hospitalised. Musician Catherine Kusasira also slipped in her bathroom the same year.
When asked about what type of tiles were in their rented house, Nakitto only describes them as the normal tiles you find in a house. While there are no official police records of the number of persons who have succumbed to death by slipping on tiles, there are now many stories of people succumbing to death as a result of slipping on the tiles.
According to experts, many of these deaths are avoidable if the right type of tiles is used. Enock Kibamu, an architect and also a member of the national building review board, says some people have resorted to using wall tiles on floors because they are cheap compared to floor tiles.
According to Kibamu, while all tiles might look the same, they are made to withstand different pressures according to their use. Floor tiles, he says, are made thicker and harder to withstand foot traffic and may have a somewhat rough texture to reduce the risk of slipping.
When choosing which tile to place in certain parts of the house like bathrooms, and kitchens, Kibamu says, interior designers or structural engineers need to choose the right product given the space available. One of the things, he says, they need to consider when doing this is the safety of the end-user.
On the open market, tiles are sold in square meters and the price varies depending on the origin. The cheapest tiles are Goodwill tiles that are manufactured locally here while the most expensive ones come from Spain.
On average, floor tiles cost between Shs 24,000 and Shs 55,000. Bathroom floor tiles cost between Shs 22,000 and Shs 48,000, while wall tiles go for between Shs 20,000 and Shs 40,000.
Julius Isooba, a structural engineer who specialises in interior fittings, says often people choose the cheaper option to get the job done, not thinking about the safety of future users.
“Many people who construct apartments or bungalows for rent or even their houses use professional specifiers to help them decide what fittings they should use. Many of them make choices depending on what they have seen in another person’s home or what looks good on the stands of the tile shop or showroom. As such, you find many rentals having normal floor tiles that are for sittings in the kitchen or even bathroom floor,” he explains.
Isooba advises that people should seek the help of professionals as they choose which tiling to use. He says some parts of the house like bathrooms, laundry rooms or even verandas need tiles with rough textures. According to the 2012/2013 Uganda National Household Survey, 2.3 per cent of households in Uganda use other floor finishing like tiles. Today this number is believed to have increased.
Dr Olive Kobusingye, a consultant trauma surgeon, says the number of tile-related accidents is increasing. She says they hear and see many patients with head injuries that are traced back to slipping on either bathroom tiles or in bathtubs.
“Bathroom slips are not as infrequent as people may get imagine. We are seeing more of them but there are ways to avoid this. We recommend the use of runner bathmats or bar handles that are placed at different points of that bathroom that someone can grab onto to steady themselves,” she says.
On the open market, an average- sized bathroom mat costs between Shs 15,000 and Shs 25,000. Depending on the usage of the mat, it can last for even more than six months.
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