How do I make a home safer for an older relative?

Most of what makes a home safer is small, cheap and unglamorous. The difficulty is rarely the work — it is doing it in a way that supports someone's independence rather than announcing that it is in question.

Safety

Step by step

1. Start by asking, not surveying.What already feels awkward, what they have stopped doing, where they hold on. That conversation identifies the real problems and makes the changes theirs rather than imposed.
2. Improve the lighting first.Brighter bulbs throughout, a light at the top and bottom of the stairs, and plug-in night lights on the route to the bathroom. Poor lighting is behind a very large share of falls and it is the cheapest thing to fix.
3. Deal with loose rugs and trailing cables.Remove loose rugs or fix them down with proper anti-slip underlay or tape. Route cables around the edge of rooms. These are the two most common trip hazards and both are free to fix.
4. Sort out the stairs.A secure handrail — ideally both sides — good lighting at both ends, and carpet that is firmly fixed with no worn or lifting edges. Nothing stored on the steps, ever.
5. Put grab rails where they will be used.Beside the toilet, in the shower, at the door. Fitted into solid fixings, not suction cups, which fail. Watch where they already grab hold — that is where the rail goes.
6. Make the bathroom less slippery.A non-slip mat inside the shower or bath, a level-access shower where a bath has become difficult, and a shower seat. The bathroom is the highest-risk room in the house.
7. Bring frequently used things within reach.Move everyday items out of high cupboards and off low shelves so nothing routine needs a stool or a deep bend. Get rid of the stool.
8. Check the outside route.Uneven paving, a loose step, no rail by the front door, poor lighting, moss on the path. The approach to the house is often worse than anything inside it.
9. Test the alarms and fit a carbon monoxide alarm.Smoke alarms on every floor, tested, and within hearing from the bedroom. A carbon monoxide alarm if there is any fuel-burning appliance. Consider one with a strobe or vibrating pad if hearing is reduced.
10. Arrange a way to call for help.A phone that is reachable from the floor, a personal alarm pendant, or a smart speaker that can call someone. The concern after a fall is as often the time on the floor as the fall itself.
11. Look at the kitchen.A kettle that is heavy to lift when full, a hob left on, reaching over a hot ring. A lighter kettle, a kettle tipper and clear controls all help, and none of them looks medical.
12. Ask about a council assessment.Local authorities provide occupational therapy assessments, and many minor adaptations — rails, ramps, key safes — are supplied free. It is the single most useful call to make and it is routinely not made.
13. Make changes gradually.A home transformed in a weekend feels like a hospital. Doing the highest-value things first, and spacing the rest, gets far less resistance and better use.

Tips

• Watch someone move around their home for ten minutes rather than inspecting it. Where they pause, reach or hold on tells you more than any checklist.
• Many changes are free through the council. Ask before buying grab rails and key safes privately.
• Frame it around keeping independence rather than preventing decline. That is both true and considerably better received.

Common mistakes

• Making changes without asking — A home rearranged by someone else is disorienting and resented, and resisted changes get undone. Involvement is what makes them stick.
• Using suction grab rails — They release without warning, usually at the moment weight goes on them. Rails must be fixed into something solid.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask