Robert Caulfield

The call follows the death of a three year old toddler in Sydney yesterday who fell from the window of a third floor flat.

Robert Caulfield from Archicentre who is also vice president of Kidsafe Victoria said that there had been a number of child deaths and injuries in the last few years throughout Australia from window falls and the main problem was children jumping or playing on beds near windows.

"The most dangerous situation involves aluminium sliding windows which provide a large unobstructed opening when fully open. Some parents think that flyscreens provide a barrier, but a small child jumping on a bed will go right through a flyscreen if they hit it hard."

Mr. Caulfield said that The Building Code of Australia limits the width of openings in stair balustrades to 125mm to prevent children falling through and similar precautions should be taken with upper floor windows.

"Parents can easily modify sliding aluminium windows themselves by drilling a hole in the bottom track and screwing in a self tapping screw at the back of the opening part of the window to prevent the window from opening to its full width. Similar modifications can be made to wind out windows."