A 5 years old child died after he fell from an open window at his family’s apartment on the third floor, in a building at Al Khalidiya, Abu Dhabi.
Commenting on the incident, Major General Nasser Lakhrebani Al Nuaimi, Secretary General of the Office of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior; Chairman of Higher Committee for Child Protection at the Ministry of the Interior, stated that the child, (O. R.), fell from an unlocked window, from his family’s apartment on the third floor of a residential complex. He added that the child was in critical condition, as a result of the fall.
Once the Al Khalidiya Police Operations Room received the notification call, a full patrol, crime scene and investigation personnel were dispatched to the accident location, which was thoroughly inspected. Preliminary investigations showed that the child fell from an unlocked window at his family’s apartment that his parents forgot to lock; despite their usual keenness to lock and secure all windows.
Secretary General Al Nuaimi pointed out that the procedures carried out at the accident location were consistent with the procedures’ manual on child-related accidents, which calls for unifying police procedures and implementing the best relevant practices.
Major General Lakhrebani expressed his regret for such an incident, which occurred despite the father’s keenness and attention to lock all windows in his sons’ room; forgetting the one located behind the bunk bed.
Major General Al Nuaimi underscored the important role of parents in applying safety requirements in their homes and children's play areas, so as to prevent such tragic incidents; wishing the child a speedy recovery.
Moreover, he urged families of different nationalities, living in high buildings and villas, to take all necessary safety precautions to reduce home accidents, being the main cause of major child injuries and deaths, particularly by falling from balconies and windows.
He also stressed the importance of close and constant supervising of children at all times; locking all unused windows, since most of them have slide locks and can be easily opened by children; and installing open window barriers. Installing such barriers is an easy task and can be done by using a few screws; these barriers prevent the window from opening not more than 4 inches (10 cm) span, and can be installed in the window frame, thus ensuring the safety of children.
Al Nuaimi called on families to communicate with their children and educate them. Families represent the first line of protection for children against the various risks they may face. Children’s maturity, interests and needs are quite different from adults. Therefore, parents must provide adequate protection for their children.
He added that developing safety and protection protocols; as well as enacting special regulations to protect children from falling, are part of the initiatives that the High Committee for Child Protection at the Ministry of Interior, represented by the Ministry’s Child Protection Center, is endeavoring to implement.
The Secretary General stated that there are two kinds of controls; preventive, focusing on awareness and seeking engagement from the concerned entities in the requirements and building codes, and installing safety systems to protect children from falling from windows and balconies. Another aspect of control is procedural; it involves response procedures as part of th
