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29 March 2024

Safety with E24|7: No chairs in balconies

#Awareness: Putting chairs or other furniture in balconies or near windows could introduce the risk of falls and death. (Sharjah Municipality)

Published
By Sneha May Francis

Putting up chairs and tables on your balconies can be a safety threat.

Sharjah Municipality highlighted this through their official social media network, urging residents not to deck up their balconies with furniture.

"#Awareness: Putting chairs or other furniture in balconies or near windows could introduce the risk of falls and death.

"Always keep the windows and balcony doors closed, tightly."

The municipality has warned residents from using balconies as a store, which could enable children to climb on top of these things, increasing the risk of them falling out.

This campaign hopes to spread awareness, urging parents and caregivers to ensure their building windows and balconies are secure, and devoid of any risks.

Over the years, there have been many cases in the UAE wherein young lives were lost due to unsecured balconies or windows in high-rises.

Just few days ago, a national daily reported that a 14-year-old Arab girl fell to her death from her family’s fifth floor apartment in Sharjah.

A week earlier, a 16-year-old girl sustained serious injuries after she fell from her 4th floor apartment in Sharjah's Al Buheira.

In May, a three-year-old girl died after falling from her seventh floor building in Al Qassimiya.

Dubai also records these tragedies, with a 5-year-old's tragically ending in May after she fell from the balcony of her 8th floor apartment in Barsha Heights.

In April this year, Arabic daily 'Al Bayan' reported that the Sharjah Civil Defence had unveiled new specificaitons for all new residential buildings under construction and compulsory modifications to existing ones to prevent children from falling out of windows and balconies.

The new rules compel owners of old buildings to instal protections on windows and to raise the height of balcony walls from 1.2 metres to 1.5 metres.

Lt. Col. Sami Khamis Al Naqbi, Director of the Department of Civil Protection and Safety of Sharjah Civil Defence,stressed that windows in old buildings should not be at a height less than 1 metre from the floor.

Khalifa bin Hidah Al Suwaidi, Director of Engineering Department at Sharjah Municipality, said the municipality was planning changes to specifications for windows and balconies for all buildings in the city. The height of windows and balconies from the floor has been raised from 1 metres to 1.20 metres.

All residents will be required to instal locks for windows and ensure that they cannot be opened more than 5 to 10 centimetres.