Is your Terrace safe for your children?

Recently an unfortunate incident sent shivers down the spine for many of us . A little child fell down from the seventh floor terrace in an apartment building in Pune & lost her life. Lot was said & discussed everywhere right from the academic design studios to professionals to housing society members.

The question raised everywhere was " Are terraces safe for children??"

Terrace of a home is an extended open space of the house of the upper floor. In our climatic context it is welcome as it gives people living on upper floors to enjoy the open space in day to day lives, Many developers show dreams & pictures of a family relaxing in a terrace, having a cup of morning tea or even dipping in their own private swimming pool on the terrace. Though above things do make sence if you have got a designed terrace , most of the middle income homes use terrace to dry clothes or an open space to have few potted plants etc.

You can enjoy your terrace, the way you like but just providing a checklist below to see if it is really safe for your children

1) Entry to terrace - Does your terrace have a sturdy entrance door which can be locked ?

 Many terraces have aluminium sliding doors which look great bu have weak locks that can be 

easily  opened by children when they are alone the house. It is also very common for these doors
to slide  easily & children an get locked on the terrace all by themselves if they  accidentally slide the door.Generally having a open able sturdy door in wood or metal or an additional safety door helps.
Doors should be generally closed & locked if you little children in the house.

2) Railing for the terrace - Are they high enough & designed such that a child may not kneel 
   over or slide between the railing bars?
 Terrace railing is a Design detail. Generally a  minimum height of  4' 6" high railing  is
 recommended as it gives enough security & makes it difficult for child to climb over.
 Currently there is a trend to have minimalist railing with toughened glass & Stainless steel rails.
 These look fantastic in elevation but we need to be extra careful. Even though the glass may be  
  toughened glass & may not break, the connection between glass & stainless steel pipes may be
 weak one. A railing with vertical / horizontal grill bars may be safe only if the distance between
 two bars is less than 4 inches within which a child cannot slide himself.
 A railing with wall of at least 3 feet height & pipe railing above it till 4 & half feet is safe but the
gap between rails & wall top should have close spaced grill / pipes.

3) Objects on the terrace : Do you have objects on terrace close to the parapet wall?
  We often keep potted plants or chairs or make seating in terrace nest to the railing or the parapet
  wall. All of the above provide child with objects which they can stand on & kneel over making it
  highly unsafe. Care should be taken to remove the chairs & take them in the house if we are not
  using them. Also not to keep unused stools or any such objects in the terrace.

4) Flooring of terrace : Is is slippery ?
  Terrace floor should have anti skid flooring as children or even adults may fall if the flooring is of
  smooth stone or smooth finish vitrified tiles especially as it gets wet in rains.

5) Enclosed terraces : How are the grill fixed ?
 Typically , not recommended & legal, people do enclose they terrace with tin roofs & grills in
 front. This is most common safety device, but most fabricators fix the grills on parapet wall with
 plumbing nails after the plastering is done. This is very unsafe as these nails can come off with
 time if not checked & the entire grill can come off. If you need to fix grills, it must be fixed from
 inside in metal sub frame that is fixed at the time of construction /brick work of the parapet wall.
 Details like this are critical & we must ask the developers to provide this sub frame during
 construction. In case you have a existing pipe railing fixed deeply in the parapet wall, grill must be
 welded to it to ensure safety.

6) Terrace lighting : Is there adequate light during night
 A dimly lit terrace is unsafe during night times. There should be adeqate light fixure to ensure
 good lighting levels during the night. Dark corners are highyl unsafe for children. Also they breed
 insects & mosquitoes

Though they may be many more , few are some important points I could think of & share with you . Please do check you home terrace for the above & many more to ensure that you children are safe with the terrace. Of course adult supervision for children while they are playing in the terrace is the best.

Hrishikesh Ashtekar