The municipality announced on Monday a new set of safety rules in high rise
residential buildings that will be implemented within the next three months.
"The new rules were made in order to put a stop to children falling out from
balconies and windows. The specifications will be put into effect once it is
published in the municipality's regulation book for high rise buildings, which
will happen sometime in the next three months," said Sultan Al Mualla, Director
General of Sharjah Municipality.
The new rules will make building owners to increase the balcony height to at
least 1.2 metres instead of one metre and that windows should be child-proof so
that without the aid of an adult, they may only be opened at a maximum width of
10 centimetres.
The initiative was made after five children plunged to their deaths last year
after falling from balconies and windows in high rise buildings across various
areas in Sharjah.
Advice
"When the first accident happened, we repeatedly advised all residents not to
leave furniture near windows, but that advice was ignored," said Al Mualla,
pointing out that more children's deaths continued to occur because parents left
their children unattended. "Such warnings were not enough and as we want to
prevent these accidents from happening again, we decided to introduce these new
specifications so that children will be safe at all times,"
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