Discussion On Worcester Window Guard Law Renewed

WORCESTER, MA — Years after raising the issue — and months after a 2-year-old was seriously injured after falling out of a second-story window along Henchman Street — Worcester health officials are still gathering information on whether to mandate window guards in city apartments.

Cities like Boston and New York have passed window-guard laws. But the effort has stalled in Worcester after push-back from fire department officials, and data showing that window-falls are generally rare in the city.

The Board of Health most recently took up the issue in early October, with Medical Director Michael Hirsh providing a report on how ordinances in other cities have worked. Hirsh said Worcester might not be a big enough city for a window-guard law.

"We still don't have a volume of injury or fatality I think that rises to the level of the same urgency that New York City and Boston were experiencing because of our lack of high-rises," Hirsh said.

Hirsh highlighted a study of New York's law showing that window falls dropped by 95 percent in the 30 years after the city passed legislation in 1976. He also said there were no fire department objections he could find.

In 2018, the fire department urged health officials to focus on education to prevent falls, saying that window guards could prevent residents — or firefighters — from escaping burning a building.

Board member Jerry Gurwitz said Worcester hasn't really looked into evidence whether window guards have caused deaths during fires.

"We're not going to see 100 falls per year, but if we see one injury like this, I think it's not rational to every year read an article [about a child falling out of a window] and say, 'oh wow, I hope fall comes pretty quickly so these windows get closed,'" Gurwitz said.

Member David Fort said that action has to accompany education — kids are told not to touch medicine, but bottles still have child-safety caps, he said.

The health board decided to seek more information in coming weeks from experts, including window-guard manufacturers and possibly the Boston Fire Department.