Mother rails in letter about bunk
After her daughter fell off the top bunk bed of her dorm room last week, a mother of a UCLA student is taking action in an attempt to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Susan Lee, whose daughter fell off her bunk bed and sustained a two-inch vertical laceration on the back of her head, said she will be drafting a letter to several entities on campus – including the Chancellor’s Office and UCLA Housing – about the safety of students within their dorm rooms.
The incident occurred on the night between March 16 and 17, when Lee’s daughter’s bunk bed guard rail gave way, and she fell, hitting the back of her head on the corner of the closet below her bunk bed.
She was rushed to the UCLA Medical Center emergency room after the fall and received five staples in the head. She was released the next morning.
“That is not acceptable,” Lee said, commenting on the safety risks of the dorm room her daughter lives in. She requested that her daughter’s name and building not be included in this article.
In the letter, Lee said she plans to ask Housing to be take immediate action to inspect all guard rails on bunk beds in the dorms, making sure that they are correctly assembled.
She also would like Housing to establish new minimum safety requirements for beds, stating that her daughter had used a foam mattress pad on her bed, which caused her daughter to be at an unsafe height next to the guard rail.
Lee said while she has no intent to take legal action, she said she wants Housing to take the matter seriously, and said she would take legal action if her letter receives no response.
There has not been any immediate reaction by Housing to inspect all bunk beds, but Alfred Nam, associate director of rooms for Housing, said Housing already conducts inspections of dorm rooms twice a year to check for several issues, including the presence and security of guard rails on bunks.
Nam said Housing is aware of the dangers involved with bunk beds, which is why Housing decided two years ago to prohibit residents from lofting their beds in rooms with only two occupants.
He said this move was met with quite a bit of resistance from both residents and parents, who complained about the lack of space in dorm rooms, but added that Housing has upheld their policy because of safety concerns.
Housing’s Policy Review Board has been talking with Nam about changing this rule, though Nam said he would need assurances that, if students were allowed to bunk their beds, they would make sure to use a guard rail, which he said students have removed from their bunks in the past.
Lee said she wants to make sure guard rails are properly installed on the inside of the bed’s frame, rather than on the outside, like her daughter’s.
Her daughter is 5-foot-3 and weighs about 115 pounds, so someone larger could more easily injure themselves as a result of improperly installed guard rails, she said.
Kevin Sun, a first-year business economics student, also fell from his top bunk during the first week of school.
He said the rail was installed on the outside of the bed frame, and was not fastened properly. He did not sustain any major injuries.
Sun said he reported the incident to Housing, but received no response. He continues to sleep on the top bunk without a guard rail.
“It’s a false sense of security,” Sun said.
Nam was unable to comment on whether Lee’s daughter’s guard rail was installed properly, as it was on the floor when staff members arrived, but said, the bar can be properly installed on the outside of the bed frame, according to the manufacturer.
With her letter, Lee said she hopes to also inform parents of the safety concerns associated with bunk beds.
Her daughter returned to her room Friday and Housing installed a new, larger guard rail, which was installed on the inside of the frame, she said.
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