We’re a little late in jumping on the National Window Safety week bandwagon – it runs from April 3 to 9 this year – but we’d maintain that window safety isn’t an issue that should be confined to a single week of the year. The National Safety Council says that “Window Safety Week coincides with the arrival of spring, when homeowners naturally want to open the windows and let in fresh air. Its goal is twofold: For families to understand the role of windows in escaping a fire or other emergency and to learn to safeguard against accidental window falls.”
Every room should have two ways to exit – usually, that is at least one door and one window. The National Safety Council offers these window safety tips as part of your escape plan.
- Make sure windows are not nailed or painted shut
- Do not install air conditioners in windows that may be needed for escape
- Make sure at least one window in each bedroom meets escape and rescue requirements
- Window guards, security bars, grilles or grates render windows useless in an emergency unless they have a release mechanism; update them if necessary
- Develop an emergency escape plan and practice it during the day and at night
- Keep emergency escape ladders in second- or third-story bedrooms and teach everyone in the home how to use them
If you have young children, you have another safety issue to consider. Every year, more than 3,300 children under the age of 5 fall from windows, suffering injuries serious enough to send them to the hospital; sadly, about eight children a year die from these falls.
The Window Safety Task Force offers these tips to protect children from window falls:
- Avoid the placement of furniture near windows to prevent children from climbing
- Do not rely on insect screens to prevent a window fall
- Keep children’s play away from open windows and doors
- Install building code-compliant devices designed to limit how far a window will open or window guards with release mechanisms to help prevent a fall
- Teach your child how to safely use a window to escape during an emergency
Here are some additional tools: