National building code changes will require safer windows in new Calgary homes

A new change to the National Building Code of Canada 2020 will require all newly-built single-detached homes in Calgary to adopt safer windows.

The changes will limit how much a window can open on the second storey of the homes and aims to prevent falls from windows. A newly-built single-detached home with an openable window six feet or more above ground must be installed at least three feet from the finished floor, protected by a guard or have a device in place to limit how much a door can open.

The city says there were no restrictions for windows for single-detached homes prior to the recommended building code changes. According to a Friday morning press release, more than 400 children end up in emergency rooms in Canada each year due to window falls.

Kshitij and Kanika Sharma’s lives were uprooted when their son fell out of a window last year. Although their son is back to his normal self, the Sharmas said they spent days in the hospital wondering if their son would ever recover.

Since then, they have been vocal advocates for window safety in Calgary.

“We were in total disbelief. This couldn’t happen to my child,” Kanika said.

“The next few hours, the next few days, were even more devastating. We didn’t know the outcome but it was a miracle for us.”

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Jonathan Guilfoyle, a pediatric emergency medicine physician and the medical director of trauma at Alberta Children’s Hospital, said these incidents are largely preventable.

“When children come in, we have our game face on… It still takes a toll on us because these injuries are preventable.

“A lot of it isn’t that parents aren’t paying attention, but that their kids are home. A lot of times we think our homes are safe but a lot of injuries to children happen at home,” Guilfoyle said.

Cliff de Jong, the City of Calgary’s manager of building safety services, says the national code change has been in the works since 2014 and Calgary helped advocate for that change.

“Code change cycles are a five-year period, so getting it into the 2020 code has to happen in 2014,” de Jong said.

“(Alberta Health Services) reached out to us and gave us the numbers, and every inspector knows of a few stories of their own… It’s that kind of relationship-building (with directors) and their efforts that got this change forward.”

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The changes will be part of Alberta’s building code in March 2023, de Jong said.

Scott Johnston, press secretary for Alberta’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs, told 770 CHQR the province is currently reviewing the National Building Code 2020. The national code will help develop the next version of the code that will be adopted in Alberta, he said.

“This requirement and other changes are being reviewed for use in the next version of the Alberta code, which is scheduled to be published later this year,” Johnston said in an email. “Once the new Alberta Edition is published, it will likely be adopted within 12 months.”

The city and Alberta Health Services says Calgarians can take the following precautions to safeguard against window falls:

• Supervising children
• Installing a safety device such as a guard or window opening control device hardware that restricts window opening to 4” (10 cm)
• Closing and locking windows with low sill heights when small children are in the house
• Moving all furniture away from windows

“Accidents do happen, will happen,” Kshitij said. “This is happening to kids in Canada and whatever we can be done to avoid this should be done.”