Euro Standard for bunk beds insufficient
Kindersicherheit
Please find more information on accident prevention on www.kindersicherheit.de (Website of "Kindersicherheit" in Bonn)
'It is unbelievable how many children have accidents while using a conventional bunk bed, just because most manufacturers fail to attach guard rails that are high enough for their bed.'
This is the opinion of most parents who became aware of this issue through the media and organisations such as the medical association Northrhein in Germany. As a result many families consider it a 'must' to have guard rails that are stable and high enough.
The Swiss Council for Accident Prevention has done long studies on 7.000 cases of accidents and found out that every 20 accidents took place on conventional bunk beds. Every year in Switzerland there are over 750 children from the age of one to eight who falls out of the conventional bunk beds. In more than half of the cases the children injured their head. If there were higher safety rails, these accidents could have been prevented.
Merkblatt
Here is a leaflet for user protection, technical product and security Berlin Brandenburg.
The full report as PDF here.
WOODLANDs 70 cm high guard rails prevent typical bunk bed accidents.
The typical bunk bed accidents usually occur when the children are playing on the top bunk. One child pushes another child and since the European standard guard rails are not high enough the child falls out of the bed.
WOODLAND uses therefore 70 cm high guard rails (more than double the European Norm). The height of the guard rail can be halved when a child reaches a certain age by raising the sleeping level. There will be 30 cm more space under the bed for example for a NASHVILLE desk.
Swiss Council for Accident Prevention
The accident occur to children from the age of 0 to 16 year old
A research on accidents to children from 0 to 16 year old has been conducted in Switzerland because many people are not aware of this issue. The research has been conducted over a year on accidents reported at hospitals and pediatricians. This was made possible by the support of doctors filling out questionnaires. There are questions on the accident characteristics (accident descriptions, activities, involved objects, attendees etc.), medical data for the injury (diagnostics, injured body parts, permanent injuries etc.) as well as social demografic characteristics (age, gender, nationality, living situation, occupation of parents etc.)
They gathered data of approx. 7.000 accidents and found out that every year approx. 120.000 children in Switzerland are treated at hospitals or pediatricians due to accidents. When you add the accidents reported at the general doctors the total number will increase to 360.000. This means that every four children from the age of 0 to 16 get into accidents and require treatment yearly.
The accident occurs most often for children up to the age of four and most likely for two-year-old children. During the process of learning their environment around them small children get into typical accidents involving daily activities. Later on when they expand their leisure activities, sports and street accidents often occur. For sports there are preponderance of accidents involving winter sports and ball games. The accidents as a pedestrian are common for five to nine year old and bicycle accidents are common for children from the age of ten.
The injuries that occur due to accidents are wounds (22%), fractures (19%), bruises (18%) and so on. It shows that younger children suffer from burns, poisoning and skull/brain traumas, while the older children suffer from fractures and sprains because they do more sports. In any case the injuries are typical to their age. For small children the main injuries are on their head and later on the upper and lower extremities. Approximately 90% of the cases do not leave permanent damage. It may leave scares if you have injuries such as amputations, paralysis and crippledness.
The analysis on risks were made having an access to evaluation on all variables. The analysis was done an serious and frequent accidents. Those who engange in the activites with high risks has tendency to get into serious accidents. On the other hand those who engage in the activities with low risk hardly get into accidents. But since there is no standard valuation for accident severity, the severity was measured using the medical variables with special statistic technique. With this technique it is possible to access every activities, types of accidents, age group etc. as well the main focus of accidents considering the frequency of occurences.
This analysis proved that children up to the age of four have the highest accident risk. Therefore they often get into severe accidents. Most likely falling from high area such as the stairs. Children in this age group are not likely to get burns or poisoning. It does not happen so often but drawning is a severe and deadly accident. This does not occur so often in bathtub under parents supervision but when the children are alone for example at swimming pool.
Traffic accidents for five to nine year old mostly likely to occur when their are walking. From the age of seven the risk of getting into an accident on bicycles increaswe. For sports, skiing and sledding are considered most dangerous. Crashing into other skiers will cause more severe damage than falling.
Above the age of ten the main accidents occur during ice skating and snowboarding. Other winter sports with high-risks are skiing and sledding. In this age the accidents on the street occur on bicycles which cause skull and brain traumas. The severe accidents occur due to lack of protective clothing and equipment.
(Source: Swiss Council for Accident Prevention)
Prevent falling out of a bunk bed!
bfu Tips for safer 'bunk bed"
Every year in Switzerland there are over 750 children from the age of one to eight who falls or rolls out of bunk beds. In most cases they injure their head. The Swill Council for Accident Prevention (bfu) suggest that with security measures most accidents can be prevented.
The bunk beds arepopular and suitable to make use of a narrow space in children's room. The children use the bed not only to sleep but to play. Most accidents occur when there are insufficient security (e.g. with no standing height guard rail). But there are also possibilities that children under eight year old falling out of bed when they are sleeping. Children usually suffer from fractures, bruises, crushes and skull/brain damages. By paying attention to the security measures suggested by bfu it is possible to avoild bunk bed accidents.
Tips when buying bunk beds:
- If the guard rail heights are inadequate only the children from the age of six should use the upper bunk.
- Bring your children with you when you buy a bunk bed
- Do you have control of the guard and safety rails?
- Are there adequate height of guard rails on all four sides?
- Are the guard rails high enough above the mattress (mini. 65 cm)?
- Is the bed fixed to the wall?
- Are there any space larger than 7,5 cm?
- Is the upper bunk and lower bunk fixed together and not just inserted on top?
- Does it have sharp corners and rims?
- Is the ladder fixed to the bed? Does the slide come with high guard rails?
... and after you purchase:
- Is the mattress foundation stable enough?
- Fix the bed to the wall on both sides.
- When the beds are screwed together make sure that the screws are tight.
- Fix the slats to the bed (e.g. with screws)
(Source: Swill Council for Accident Prevention)
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