Citation

Bijur PE, Spiegel C. Pediatr. Res. 1996; 39(S4): 102.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1203/00006450-199604001-00620

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The effectiveness of health code changes in 1976 mandating the use of window guards in high rise residences with children 0-10 years, coupled with continuing community education and legislation in 1986 has been demonstrated by the NYC Window Falls Prevention Program. A barrier to enactment of similar laws in other municipalities is a concern about the impact of window guards on egress during a fire. This study examined the rate of deaths due to residential fires in children 0 to 10 years from 1970 to 1993 and compared it to the rate of fatal window falls in the same age group and time period in order to test the hypothesis that fire deaths are inversely related to window fall deaths.

METHOD: Death certificates indicating falls from buildings that were accidental or intent unknown (E882, E987) coupled with codes for home or residence as place of injury and those with E890-E899 - accidents caused by fire and flame at home were counted. US Bureau of the Census data and estimates for intercensal years were used to calculate rates.

RESULTS: The results are shown in the figure.

CONCLUSION: Rates of fire related deaths did not increase over the time period during which window guards proliferated due to the enactment and implementation of window guard legislation in NYC.

Language: en