Information For Professionals

 

• Whose Problem is it?

​

Safe Kids Worldwide reports that an average of 8 children ages 5 and under die and 3,300 others suffer severe injury each year.  These children may have interaction with first responders (fire, police, ambulance), family physicians, urgent and critical care facilities, or emergency departments at hospitals.  Even child welfare workers might encounter situations where children have fallen from windows.  It is imperative that professionals at every level prepare themselves with information to guide families in creating a safer home environment for young children, preferably before the fall event.

​

• Why are young children at risk?

​

Children age 5 and under have small bodies and large heads.  Because of this, a situation where their head can exert leverage over their body can contribute to a fall.  If they are looking out a window or in an elevated position, like climbing on a piece of furniture near a window, the child can lose their balance and fall in a way from which they cannot recover. 

​

Young children are also at a point of physical development where their strength and dexterity are such that they can be protected by devices that combine strength and dexterity to operate.  Examples are child resistant medication containers or child resistant lighters.  It should be noted that any child-resistant device is only child-resistant, not child-proof. 

​

Young children also lack the intellectual development to understand cause and effect.  In other words, telling them that climbing on furniture near a window or leaning against a screen will lead to a fall, that may lead to injury or death, are not effective arguments to discourage their behavior.  They simply cannot link together the kind of thinking that moves from one dangerous outcome to the next, to the next. 

​

And perhaps most importantly, if a young child without the understanding of cause and effect and lacking the strength to perform escape actions were to attempt an emergency escape from an upper level window (such as during a fire in the home), it is quite likely they would fall and suffer injury or death in a failed escape attempt.  As always, the safety of young children, especially in the event of a fire, is largely in the hands of the supervising adult.  An understanding of this fundamental concept (and how working smoke alarms will provide early warning of a fire) should explain why children protected by window safety devices are not at elevated risk for entrapment during a fire.

​

With these regulatory elements in place, and evidence that child home window falls needlessly take lives and cause injury each year, solutions can be formulated.  Yet to date, consistent prevention strategies and understanding by property managers and emergency responders is limited.  By understanding the background issues leading to child window falls, and the code development that is intended to facilitate solutions, housing of any type should be able to be equipped with the appropriate safety measures to protect young children from injuries and death related to window falls.

​

• Pediatricians

 

Pediatricians can provide a key connection between child window fall prevention and families with young children.  Well child care includes home safety.  Families have a moving target of home safety as their children grow and develop.  Reminders are important as they enter each threshold of hazards for the child's age.  To aid in this, a special flier for pediatricians has been developed.  Please print and distribute at every opportunity.