36,000 Fall Deaths. Zero Installation Standards. Until Now.
Families can't tell professionals from handymen. GBIAA certification changes that—establishing real standards for life-saving work.
The Problem Is Deadly Serious
36,000 Americans die from falls every year—making falls the leading cause of injury death among adults 65+.
Another 234,000 people are treated in emergency departments annually for bathroom-related injuries specifically, with 81% caused by falls.
Yet There Were No Standards
Here's the scandal: there's NO national standard for grab bar installation, NO professional certification, and NO way for families to know if the $150 "handyman special" they hired on Thumbtack actually knows proper anchoring techniques.
People Are Using Dangerous Alternatives
Families play Russian roulette with suction cup grab bars sold on Amazon—devices that manufacturers openly admit "are designed to provide balance assistance rather than to bear body weight."
DIY YouTube tutorials and untrained handymen treat grab bars like towel racks, not life-saving safety devices that must sustain 250 pounds of force.
Why GBIAA Exists
The Grab Bar Installers Association of America was founded by three professionals who deliver white-glove aging-in-place services.
We got tired of watching an industry fail people at their most vulnerable moment.
So we created the standard this industry desperately needed.
Commercial bathrooms have strict ADA requirements: grab bars must sustain 250 pounds of force, be mounted at precise heights (33-36 inches above finished floor), and meet specific spacing standards (1.5 inches between wall and bar).
But those requirements? They don't apply to residential bathrooms where seniors actually live.
There's no federal standard, no licensing requirement, no way to ensure your installer knows the difference between ADA-compliant installation and "looks about right."
Meanwhile, research shows that poorly installed grab bars create false security and fail at the exact moment someone needs them most.
What We're Building
GBIAA is creating the professional infrastructure that doesn't exist:
1. The Certification Standard
Professional training in proper installation protocols from our technical director with 20+ years of hands-on experience. Training covers ADA standards (250-pound load capacity, proper mounting heights, correct spacing) and applies them to residential installations where no federal standard currently exists.
Every certified installer learns:
- How to identify wall structure and find solid mounting surfaces
- Step-by-step installation techniques for every situation
- When NOT to install a grab bar and what alternatives to recommend
- Load testing and documentation protocols
- Professional client communication
2. The Outcomes Database
We're creating a tracking system for every certified installation: load testing documentation, client safety outcomes, failure rate comparisons, and cost-benefit analysis.
This is the data infrastructure that will make mandatory standards inevitable. When we lobby state legislators in 2-3 years, we won't be presenting opinions—we'll have irrefutable evidence from thousands of installations showing reduced failure rates and prevented injuries.
3. The Trust Signal Families Need
Right now, families searching "grab bars near me" have no way to evaluate installer competence. GBIAA certification becomes that trust signal—not just someone with a drill, but someone trained, tested, and accountable to professional standards.
When customers see "GBIAA Certified Installer," they know they're hiring someone who:
- Has been trained in proper installation techniques
- Understands safety standards and ADA guidelines
- Knows when to install—and when to walk away
- Backs their work with professional accountability
54 million Americans live with disabilities. 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day. 90% want to age in place.
The demand for professional grab bar installation has never been higher—and it's not slowing down.
But here's the challenge: most contractors avoid this work due to perceived liability or lack of training. Those who do offer it often don't know proper techniques, creating safety hazards and damaging the industry's reputation.
More than 800,000 patients are hospitalized annually because of fall injuries.
Falls cost the U.S. healthcare system over $50 billion in total medical costs annually. And a person's risk of falling doubles if they've fallen once before.
The numbers make inaction indefensible.
Our Path Forward: Building the Inevitable
We're following the UL (Underwriters Laboratories) playbook: create the certification standard, prove it with data, watch it become mandatory as stakeholders demand accountability.
Phase 1: Build the Data
Every certified installer documents their installations with photographs, testing protocols, and client outcomes. Within 18-24 months, we'll have thousands of installations proving certified work has dramatically lower failure rates than industry standard.
Phase 2: Create the Precedent
We're targeting the most indefensible case first: 55+ communities that invoke special legal protection to discriminate based on age yet provide zero enhanced safety features. If you get permission to exclude children, you should be required to provide age-appropriate safety standards.
Phase 3: Universal Standards
Once age-restricted communities face mandatory requirements, precedent makes universal standards inevitable. Medicare reimbursement will require certification. Insurance companies will mandate it. Building codes will adopt it.
The system doesn't need to be forced—it wants to change. It just needs the infrastructure.
This isn't theoretical for us. We've done the installations. We've seen what fails. We know what works.
It Started With Family
Our Co-Founder Greg's grandparents struggled as their abilities changed. Their kitchen became dangerous. The bathroom was hard to navigate. Even getting out of bed was tricky.
Little things created big problems.
So Greg started making changes—one little deed after another—until their home worked for them again.
That became Little Deeds: a service helping families through grab bar installations, handrails, and accessibility renovations.
What We Learned
As we delivered hundreds of installations together, we learned what proper technique looks like and what clients actually need. We also saw handyman installations fail and watched families struggle to find qualified help.
The real problem? There were no professional standards. No certification. No way for families to tell who knew what they were doing.
So we built it.
Who We Are
Greg Cantori - President & Co-Founder
Greg delivers white-glove aging-in-place services through Little Deeds and witnessed firsthand the catastrophic gap between what families need and what the industry provides. He's building GBIAA because watching people get hurt by amateur installation became unbearable.
Liz Lenoski - COO & Co-Founder
Liz created the operational frameworks, quality controls, and service protocols that make Little Deeds exceptional. She's building GBIAA's certification system, training programs, and contractor vetting process—bringing the same attention to detail to national standards that she brought to individual client service.
Emilio Baires - CTO & Co-Founder
Emilio has 20+ years of hands-on installation experience and provides the deep technical expertise that makes GBIAA credible. Based in Spain, he creates training content, develops installation protocols, and brings engineering rigor to what's currently treated as handyman work.
Why This Matters Now
Research shows common installation mistakes include failing to mount into wall studs, exceeding weight limits, ignoring proper placement, and using substandard materials. When grab bars aren't securely anchored, they can become loose or detached when weight is applied, leading to falls and injuries.
A handyman-installed grab bar that fails under load doesn't just cause a fall—it betrays trust at the moment of maximum vulnerability.
An 80-year-old who reaches for support, puts full weight on a bar, and crashes to the floor when it fails faces devastating consequences:
- Average hospitalization for fall injuries: $40,000
- 25% mortality rate within one year for hip fracture patients over 65
- Loss of independence and confidence
These injuries are preventable. These deaths are preventable.
GBIAA exists to prevent them—one certified installer, one professional installation, one family protected at a time.
Our Commitment
We're not claiming we've already solved the problem. We're building the infrastructure to solve it systematically.
We have:
- 20+ years of technical expertise
- Documented experience delivering white-glove service
- Clear understanding of why the current system fails
- Comprehensive training curriculum
- Professional certification standards
- Commitment to tracking outcomes
We're not asking permission to fix a broken system. We're building the solution the industry desperately needs.
Within 3-5 years, GBIAA certification will be mandatory—required by Medicare, demanded by insurance, written into building codes—because the data will make opposition impossible.