Child Suffers Lip Wound After Falling Between Upper Bunk and Wall at Lempäälä Daycare

A child suffered a lip wound after falling into the gap between an upper bunk and the wall at Kuokkalankulma daycare in Lempäälä on Thursday, Tamperelainen reported. Yle adds that the child is four years old. The municipality’s message to parents said the child slipped from the upper bed into the space while a staff member was lifting the beds after rest time, with the worker not noticing the child beneath a thick blanket. The injury was limited to a cut to the lip, and the child did not need to be taken to a doctor.

Staff immediately investigated the incident with the child’s guardians, the employees who were present and the early childhood education unit manager. A review found that staff had not fully followed the daycare’s safety instructions, which require confirming a bed is empty before lifting it. Yle specifies the instruction as: “Before lifting, ensure there is no child in the bed.”

Lempäälä says it will tighten nap room safety guidelines, review practices with personnel and assess any additional measures to strengthen safety during rest times. Yle reports that acting head of early childhood education Katri Auvinen said the incident is not linked to the bed model, and that no manufacturer details can be provided.

YLE also places the report in context of wider national concerns about “cupboard beds”. It notes a fatal accident in Vantaa in March, where risky units were removed from more than 6,000 closet beds, and that Helsinki is phasing out all closet beds. In Tampere, Yle mentions the city ordered replacement wall-mounted cupboard beds at three daycare centres after a safety review in July. Yle adds that Pirkanmaa has recorded two similar non-serious incidents involving closet beds during the past year.