Child falls between cabinet bed and wall at Lempäälä daycare

A four-year-old child fell between a cabinet bed and a wall at a daycare centre in Lempäälä on Thursday, Yle reports. The child was not seriously injured.

The incident happened at Kuokkalankulma daycare centre after a rest period, when an employee was raising the beds. The child fell from the upper bed while wrapped in a blanket. The employee had not noticed the child beneath the thick blanket.

The child suffered a cut to the lip but did not need medical treatment.

Lempäälä municipality confirmed the incident to Yle. Acting early childhood education manager Katri Auvinen said it was not related to the design of the bed, and the municipality could not provide further information about its manufacturer.

The municipality said the incident had been reviewed with the child’s guardians, the employees involved and the manager of the early childhood education unit. The review found that agreed safety instructions had not been followed. The instructions state that staff must make sure there is no child in the bed before raising it.

The municipality said safety guidance for the rest room would be clarified where necessary to prevent similar incidents. It added that safety was its highest priority and that the incident was being taken very seriously.

Yle reported the incident because a child died in Vantaa in March after becoming trapped between a cabinet bed and a wall.

Several cities have reviewed cabinet beds in their daycare centres since the fatal accident. Helsinki has said it will remove all cabinet beds during this year and next year, replacing them with mattresses and sofa beds. Tampere has also said it will replace cabinet beds at three daycare centres because of safety risks.

At least two children in daycare centres in Pirkanmaa were trapped between cabinet beds last year. Neither was seriously injured.