Window Safety Week highlights the fact that, like clockwork, children fall from windows every year when the weather warms. Oregon's trauma registry records about 50 window falls per year. Other children are luckier; they fall and do not suffer significant trauma. Nationally, the number of children suffering traumatic injury from window falls is in the thousands per year. The most vulnerable are children under age seven, who suffer brain injury and death from window falls.
These tragedies are as preventable as they are predictable.
Window guards, screens & mesh save lives.
For decades certain jurisdictions have required window guards. The laws work, saving lives and tragedies. As of February, 2010, Oregon's building code addresses some aspects of window falls, but safety professionals know that it is not enough. (Previously, I wrote about the new Oregon regulation.)
With the spread of these laws, manufacturers are competing to produce safety devices that look better than the old bars. The latest product, the window guard mesh, looks more like a decorative curtain.
Even inexpensive window stops can save lives, so long as parents do not open the window wider than their child's head.
Conclusion.
Window Safety Week raises the awareness of this safety issue. We know that the tragedy of brain-injured and dead children is as predictable as it is preventable. Please help spread the word to help families in Oregon and Washington.
