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| Help! I Fell Out a Window and Can't Get Up. |
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The warmer summer weather is here and with it comes new safety concerns. One that is not often talked about is window safety.
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The warmer summer weather is here and with it comes new safety concerns. One that is not often talked about is window safety. Opening our windows to let in the cool afternoon breeze or just to air out our living space is a common practice during the summer months, but it is also the times when emergency rooms are seeing higher incidents of child injuries due to falls. In fact, every day at least 14 children are sent to the emergency room from falls from open windows.
Children under 4 years of age seemed to be the most vulnerable to these mishaps. They account for more than 65% of the injuries and deaths. If you have young children it’s best to keep furniture away from windows so children can’t use them to climb, but children can be creative and pushing items up against a wall to get access to the opened window can occur.
Here are a few suggestions that you can take to help protect your loved ones:
Consider planting shrubs or bushes under windows, especially two story windows to help soften the landing surface.
Install window guards on all second story windows or ones that have a high elevation to the outside surface.
Window screens protect insects from coming in, but will not support the weight of a child leaning out.
Use window stops to prevent windows from opening more than 4 inches.
Educate your children to the dangers of jumping or climbing out a window.
Many window manufacturers are producing windows with safety latches. Consider these when making decisions upon new windows if you have young children or anticipate having youngster around.
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Posted on Jun 08, 2012 22:00pm by youngheartsed
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