Dubai: Experts have reiterated warnings to parents to keep a close eye on children to avoid tragic fatalities in the home.
This comes after a five-year-old boy was killed on Saturday after falling from the second floor of an Abu Dhabi apartment block.
Tracy Fountain, founder of the Back to Basics first aid training centre, recently delivered a series of Child Injury Prevention workshops in Arabic across the UAE to 180 parents.
They focused not only on practical changes to adopt to create a safer home environment but also behavioural changes that can help in injury prevention itself.
Fountain told Gulf News: “We used recent case studies in the UAE relating to severe childhood injuries which included balcony falls, road traffic injuries, burns, poisoning and drowning.
“New regulations have dramatically impacted on the safety of children but this is only effective if those supervising the children ensure that balcony doors are locked for example.
“Supervision and communication are key factors in ensuring your child’s safety.
“We recognise you can’t watch your child every second of the day but should they be faced with danger, then communicating with each other and the housemaids, to ensure the balcony is always kept locked and the key is kept out of reach.
“This should be a non-negotiable in every household with children.”
Dr Amy Bailey, Clinical Psychologist at KidsFIRST Medical Centre, said that for all children, the level of supervision and safety precautions needed should be considerate of a child’s developmental level and understanding.
“Older children can more readily understand and comply with oral instructions but for younger children they cannot.”
In 2011, the Ministry of Interior’s child protection centre called for balconies to be covered with perspex sheets.
Major General Nasser Lakhraibani Al Nuaimi, Secretary General of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, announced in 2011 that accidents involving children have significantly increased due to negligence, lack of awareness or unimplemented safety measures.
He added that safety railings should be installed on balconies to prevent children from falling.
Sharjah Municipality announced a set of safety rules for high-rise residential buildings in March 2012.
These were supposed to be implemented within three months.
The new rules were made in order to put a stop to children falling out from balconies and windows. The specifications were supposed to be put into effect once published in the municipality’s regulation book for high-rise buildings, said Sultan Al Mualla, Director-General of Sharjah Municipality.
The rules dictated that building owners increase the balcony height to at least 1.2 metres instead of one metre, and that windows should be childproof so that without the aid of an adult, they may only be opened at a maximum width of ten centimetres.
The federal law prescribes a jail term of between one month and two years for every time a person endangers the life of a child below the age of 15 or a person incapable of caring for themselves.
