When it comes to safety I prefer to take preventative measures to ensure that a fall won't happen. Case in point- my shower bench is made to go over a bathtub not in a shower so it's too short. The easy answer is to buy a new one for $$. I opted to try a few diffferent ways til I figured out a pretty safe way. First, I used a very long transfer board. This was okay but securing it so it didn't move around while I was on it was hard and it would not move from under me once I was back in my own chair. Second, I tried a shorter but wider one which seemed good til I really had trouble securing it transfering back to my chair. Then I used it on the way up and "jumped" and prayed when transfering back into my chair. Then it fell as I was about to position it to get bak in my chair. There was no way could use it then. That was the best thing that could have happened. I decided to try to a very unconventional but logical idea. I looked at the big space I had to get over and realized that what I needed was something to fill it so there's no room to fall, the key to not falling is having no where to fall. My eyes scanned my kitchen and stopped when they spotted a garbage can. It was close to the right height so I took it, turned it over, and placed a big notebook over it. Now the space didn't exist and it was a perfectly straight transfer to the shower bench. I even put an old pillow case under my butt to ensure a smoother transfer. I haven't fallen yet and I don't plan to.