True child safety needs education and federal laws

The UAE needs to strengthen the safety culture among residents to prevent children from falling off high-rise buildings, writes Ayesha Almazroui

Windows in some high-rise buildings have no safety locks for kids who are left unattended. Ravindranath K / The National
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On Sunday, a six-year-old girl fell to her death from a 15th floor balcony in Sharjah. She had been left unattended. At the time, her father was at work and her mother was accompanying one of her younger children downstairs to take the school bus.

Before this tragic case, a four-year-old boy fell from a flat on the 19th floor, a seven-year-old boy fell from an apartment on the 8th floor, another four-year-old boy fell from the window of a 6th-floor apartment and a 12-year-old girl fell from a balcony of a 3rd-floor flat.

These are only a few examples of harrowing incidents that have occurred this year in Sharjah, in addition to other cases across the country.

The question that many people are asking is: who is responsible for these tragedies?

There have been some efforts by the authorities to address the issue.

In Sharjah, the municipality introduced new rules in 2012 requiring residential apartments – old and new – to have minimum safety measures in windows and balconies. Abu Dhabi also introduced similar rules the following year. These rules, according to officials, have been enforced with regular inspections.

Safety rules are just the first step along the way. Parents and caregivers have to play their part too. Having said that, we also need to be mindful of and compassionate towards those parents who have gone through such a traumatising experience and lost a child in such a tragic way.

Many people will have their own views on the cause of each of these incidents but, ultimately, it is for the courts to establish the truth in each of these cases and it is for the parents to try to rebuild their lives after experiencing such trauma.

The real problem is the lack of a safety culture among many members of society. Most of us often realise our shortcomings only after it’s too late and we learn the hard way.

Local officials continue to warn that no safety regulations can substitute for parental care. Gaith Al Shamsi, the Sharjah Municipality’s head of building permits said this year that most cases of children’s falls occur due to parental neglect.

Some of the children who fell to their death had been left alone at home. Sometimes they were left with maids or cleaners who haven’t always had training on how to ensure children’s safety.

Some of these children had access to windows because furniture was carelessly kept very close to the windows. In many cases, building inspectors have found tables and chairs beside windows. They also found unlocked balcony doors that a child could easily open.

In some other cases, using balconies as storage spaces helped children climb over railings and fall from the building. This is why this practice has been banned as part of the new rules.

Perhaps what is really lacking is awareness about the issue, more than the enforcement of the rules. We need to strengthen a culture of safety among residents.

There should be intensive awareness campaigns that explain why they’re important and worth implementing.

For example, New York carried out a comprehensive awareness campaign named Kids Can’t Fly in the 1960s and 1970s when it made provisions to its rules in response to the alarming numbers of falls.

The New York awareness programme relied on intensive public education, including home visits, distribution of multilingual posters and flyers at health clinics, schools, preschools, supermarkets and welfare offices.

Local authorities have to step up efforts to spread the message among UAE residents and raise the level of awareness in the community.

It's also important to remember that the UAE has no country-wide rules regulating the safety of high-rise buildings. These rules were included in Wadeema's law, which has not yet been enacted after years of discussions and amendments. The draft law on children's rights lays down safety measures to prevent children from falling from high-rise buildings and spells out penalties for those who don't comply.

While it’s good to have local rules in each emirate, having a federal law would send a louder message that the safety of children should not be compromised.

For how long will we continue to constantly hear about such tragic cases?

aalmazrouei@thenational.ae

@AyeshaAlmazroui