Grandpa Richards Kids

A recent accident in California highlights the need to be vigilant about children and open windows.

In this case, a babysitter placed a 2 year-old boy on a kitchen counter which was flush with an open window. The babysitter then turned briefly to tend to a meal cooking on the nearby stove. When she turned back, the boy was gone, having fallen out of the window to the ground below, a 12 foot drop.

It is thought that the boy was fascinated by some brightly coloured flowers in a window box.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that each year more than 4,000 children are treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries received from falling from a window. The CPSC knows of at least 120 window-fall related deaths of children since 1990. Most of the injuries and deaths were to children under the age of 5.

One easily installed safety item are window stops. These stop the window from open more than a certain amount. The recommendation is that they be set to a maximum of 4 inches (10 cm). Some models have a feature whereby an adult can release the stop so that the window can be opened further.

Install window guards or window stops to prevent children from falling out of windows. If you are in doubt about whether to put a guard in a particular window, go ahead and install a window guard there. Better to be safe than sorry. Do not place furniture under or near a window to avoid giving children a way to climb directly to the window. NEVER depend on screens to keep a child from falling out of a window.