What's The Most Dangerous Room in the House?

Bathrooms are dangerous places; just ask Janet Leigh. But it isn't just Tony Perkins that you have to worry about, there are a host of dangers in everybody's house.

Discovery partner How Stuff Works asks What's the most dangerous room in the house? They are not entirely clear about which is worse, the kitchen or the bathroom.

The kitchen is pretty bad; scalds, knives, fires, bacteria:

Sponges are also notorious for soaking up bacteria, which you then spread over anything you wipe with a sponge. E-coli and salmonella are both highly prevalent and neither is necessarily born in the kitchen. They can be brought into your home on pets, by your kids and on the food you buy in the grocery store. You'll most likely just have some nasty stomach issues or a flulike infection with this kind of bacterial exposure, but it can be serious for children, the elderly and pregnant women.

But the bath!

Slips and falls are one of the leading causes of accidental deaths in the United States, and bathrooms are enemy No. 1 due to the water involved in bathing and sink use.

It is ultimately a design problem of putting slippery surfaces in the same place as soap and water, just a dumb move. Not requiring handrails in showers as part of the building code. (too expensive, the builders say) -another dumb move.

Then there are sharp objects, toxic chemicals and drugs crammed into a poorly ventilated tiny space; almost everything about it is wrong. More at How Stuff Works.

More on Bathrooms:
How to Go Green: In the Bathroom
How to Go Green: Bathroom Renovation