Every day, an average of 120 U.S. children are hurt in the tub or shower and require treatment at a hospital emergency department, researchers said.

Researchers at the Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, said bathroom slips and falls send more than 43,000 children a year to the emergency room and in most cases, parents are watching their kids.

"Unfortunately, adult supervision isn't enough to prevent these injuries, they happen so quickly that a parent simply can't react quickly enough to prevent them," Dr. Gary Smith of Nationwide Children's Hospital's Center for Injury Research and Policy said in a statement.

"Therefore it is important to prevent them from happening by using a slip resistant mat inside and outside the bath and shower."

Smith suggested installing support bars so children can hold onto them when getting in and out of the tub and shower.