High Rise Living: Window Safety
A tragic story appeared in the news today of a toddler falling to her death from a seventh storey apartment.
Read the full story.
Windows seem to be particularly hazardous. In March 2009, another toddler died after a window blind cord got wrapped around his neck on a yacht in Discovery Bay.
Read the full story.
It may seem obvious, but it doesn’t hurt to remind ourselves of some important points of safety for families living in high rise apartments:
Window & Balcony safety
Keep your child away from open windows. Window screens are designed to keep insects out; they aren't strong enough to stop a child from falling out. If you live in a high-rise, or in a house with second or third stories that have windows low enough for your child to reach, install window guards or locks, such as this Babydan lock.
Such guards or locks should restrict the opening of the window to less than 4 inches.
Also keep in mind that cords from curtains or blinds can entangle a baby. Cut looped cords in half to form two strings. You can also roll cords up and tie them with rubber bands or twist ties, or mount a hook high out of the child's reach to secure the excess cord. Or choose window treatments that don't use cords.
During waking hours, do not leave babies and toddlers alone and out of sight.
The sliding glass doors on the balcony should be locked at all times, and you should remove all climbable objects such as chairs, toys and grills. Balcony railings shouldn't have in-between spacing of more than 3 inches because children can squeeze through and fall. You may also childproof your balcony with a safety rail which prevents the door from sliding open.
Read the full story.
Windows seem to be particularly hazardous. In March 2009, another toddler died after a window blind cord got wrapped around his neck on a yacht in Discovery Bay.
Read the full story.
It may seem obvious, but it doesn’t hurt to remind ourselves of some important points of safety for families living in high rise apartments:
Window & Balcony safety
Keep your child away from open windows. Window screens are designed to keep insects out; they aren't strong enough to stop a child from falling out. If you live in a high-rise, or in a house with second or third stories that have windows low enough for your child to reach, install window guards or locks, such as this Babydan lock.
Such guards or locks should restrict the opening of the window to less than 4 inches.
Also keep in mind that cords from curtains or blinds can entangle a baby. Cut looped cords in half to form two strings. You can also roll cords up and tie them with rubber bands or twist ties, or mount a hook high out of the child's reach to secure the excess cord. Or choose window treatments that don't use cords.
During waking hours, do not leave babies and toddlers alone and out of sight.
The sliding glass doors on the balcony should be locked at all times, and you should remove all climbable objects such as chairs, toys and grills. Balcony railings shouldn't have in-between spacing of more than 3 inches because children can squeeze through and fall. You may also childproof your balcony with a safety rail which prevents the door from sliding open.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by keitakai on -
How awful! This is something that I have been terrified of since I was pregnant. It seriously used to keep me up at night. Then as bad luck would have it, we moved into a 12th floor apartment with no guards on the windows. The owner won`t install any and my son is becoming more and more mobile. I have no idea what to do.
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Permalink Reply by Camomile on -
We moved into a new apartment recently, we haven't request the owner to make anything, since i think its our own responsibility on giving the best safety prevention for our kid. We've installed the window safety locks on each of the window from the aluminum engineering company. Its quite a bit of work for them, they have to drew at the side of the window and put a lock onto it, so the kid can't push the door to far that they might fall. It costs $200 for each, i can still open it with a key, when the mate have to clean the windows.
keitakai said:How awful! This is something that I have been terrified of since I was pregnant. It seriously used to keep me up at night. Then as bad luck would have it, we moved into a 12th floor apartment with no guards on the windows. The owner won`t install any and my son is becoming more and more mobile. I have no idea what to do.
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Permalink Reply by 1/3J on -
Hi Camomile, can you pls let me have the contact details of the company installing the child lock? I've been looking for it for a while. Many thanks.
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Permalink Reply by Camomile on
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Hi 1/3J, you can go to this website of the company i have used, http://chunpo.silver.yp.com.hk/ , tel no. 82029055,/34273930,can you read chinese, cos it seems they cannot display English, you can give them a call , they would come to check your window and see which lock is suitable, and they will fix a date to come to install them, the minimum charge is 1500. They installed locks on 7 windows for us, 200 each, i just had to give extra 100 to reach the min charge. Or u can see if they can fix other window stuff for you if you dun have so many windows to be installed with the locks. And they can come to remove or reinstall the locks if you might need to move out from the apt, it might cos a few hundreds, depends on the numbers of locks you have.
I've received brochure on another company which is doing the same thing , the website is 007home.com.hk , it seems a bit more pricey.
Hope these can help, just let me know if u need more info from me.
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