There’s a frustrating trade-off many Sunshine Coast parents feel forced into every summer: keep the windows shut and the house stuffy, or open them up and spend the whole day worrying about little climbers. It doesn’t help that the standard advice – “don’t open windows more than 12.5cm” – essentially means giving up ventilation for the better part of a decade while your kids grow up.
The good news? You don’t have to choose. As a licensed Crimsafe manufacturer based right here at Kunda Park, we’ve been helping Sunshine Coast families solve this problem since 1997, and the solution lets you throw your windows wide open with complete peace of mind.
Why window falls are a bigger risk than most parents realise
Around 50 Australian children fall from windows or balconies every year, and the majority of those admitted to hospital are under five. It’s not carelessness, it’s physics and curiosity. Children aged one to five are naturally inquisitive but can’t recognise danger, and most falls happen in the warmer months when families leave windows open day and night. Sound like a Queensland summer to you?
Falls typically happen in one of two ways: a child playing near an open window and pushes against it, or they climb furniture positioned near a window and tumble through the opening. Research from The Children’s Hospital at Westmead found that around half of all child window fall injuries involved furniture near the window.
Here’s the detail that catches many parents off guard: a standard flyscreen will not stop a child falling. Flyscreens are designed to keep insects out, not hold back the weight of a toddler. If your childproofing plan currently relies on the flyscreen, it’s time for a rethink.
What the building code requires
Since May 2013, the National Construction Code has required protection on openable bedroom windows in new residential buildings where there’s a fall of two metres or more to the surface below. To comply, the protection must:
- Prevent a 125mm sphere (roughly the size of a young child’s head) from passing through, and
- Withstand an outward force of 250 newtons – about 25 kilograms of pressure
For most homes, that means one of two things: window locks or restrictors that stop the window opening more than 12.5cm, or a compliant barrier screen that protects the full opening.
If your home was built before 2013, none of this is retrofitted automatically, which means plenty of older Sunshine Coast homes, particularly two-storey houses and highset Queenslanders, have upstairs bedroom windows with no fall protection at all.
The problem with locks and restrictors
Window restrictors do work, and they’re inexpensive. But they come with a genuine liveability cost on the Sunshine Coast:
A 12.5cm gap barely moves air. In our humid climate, a window cracked open to a hand’s width, does very little for cross-ventilation, especially overnight in summer.
They rely on human consistency. Restrictors only protect when they’re engaged. One warm night where someone unlocks a window for extra breeze and forgets to re-engage it is all it takes.
They limit the window for everyone. You lose the full function of the window for years, no wide-open living areas, and have no proper airflow through bedrooms.
The barrier screen approach: full airflow, full protection
This is where a security screen changes the equation entirely. A compliant barrier screen protects the entire window opening, meaning the window itself can be opened as wide as you like, whenever you like, without any fall risk.
Crimsafe screens are built with Tensile-Tuff® 304-grade stainless steel mesh, mechanically locked into the frame with the patented Screw-Clamp™ system. In independent testing simulating a fixed window installation, a Crimsafe screen didn’t just pass the NCC’s 250N force requirement, it withstood 1,000 newtons, four times the required load, without any gap forming.
That strength means one screen does three jobs at once:
- Fall prevention – no child is getting through it, no matter how determined
- Security – the same screen that stops a fall from inside, stops an intruder from outside
- Insect protection – full flyscreen function without the flyscreen fragility
And because the mesh is fine and the sightlines stay clear, you keep your views and your breeze. No bars, no grilles, no compromise on how your home looks.
Practical childproofing tips that work alongside screens
Screens do the heavy lifting, but a few habits complete the picture:
- Move furniture away from windows. Beds, toy boxes, and chairs near windows are effectively ladders for toddlers.
- Check every level, not just upstairs. Ground-floor falls onto hard surfaces can still cause injury, and screened ground-floor windows add security too.
- Renting? You still have options. Landlords cannot unreasonably refuse minor safety modifications like window safety devices – just get written consent first.
- Don’t forget balcony doors. The same fall risks apply to door openings onto decks and balconies.
Childproofing vs emergency escape: two different jobs
One important distinction: fall prevention screens are about keeping children in. If you’re screening an upstairs bedroom, it’s also worth thinking about how occupants get out in an emergency. That’s a separate consideration, and it’s exactly what Crimsafe’s Safe-S-Cape® screen is designed for, with its keyless internal release. We covered it in detail in our recent Safe-S-Cape post, and the two products often work together across different windows in the same home.
Made locally, measured for your home
Every Crimsafe screen we install is manufactured in our Kunda Park facility and made to measure for your exact window – no off-the-shelf sizing, no gaps, no guesswork on compliance. As a licensed Crimsafe manufacturer, we can assess which of your windows fall under the NCC’s protection requirements and recommend the right solution room by room.
If you’ve got little ones (or grandkids who visit), don’t spend another summer choosing between fresh air and peace of mind. Call North Coast Blinds & Security on (07) 5456 2199 to book your free measure and quote.