The beds were all lofted in the dorms at RIT. I don’t recall if there were rails; S only lived in the dorms his first year.
I have always hated lofted beds. Back in the dark ages, when I was in college, a girl across the hall from me had her bed collapse onto the desk she’d placed beneath it. Fortunately, she wasn’t there at the time, but the incident made a lifelong impression on me. And about 10 years ago, at a church retreat, a girl slid out of her bunk bed and broke her arm.
@RADRailMom To answer your question, no, the school did not offer a safety rail. After she fell, her Dad made one and took care of it.
I was quite concerned when my son and roommates freshman year had their beds lofted as high as possible. They were skyscrapers! I worried all year. I am sad to hear that people really do get seriously injured falling out of tall beds.
I remember going to sleep away camp one summer with bunk beds (old ones… probably world war 2 army surplus)
I was afraid to sleep on top but the bottom bunk bothered me too… every time the person on top moved it sounded like the thing was going to come crashing down with the steel frame, mattress and person right on top of you. I am glad to see you actively bringing awareness to the issue of lofted beds. in college I saw people with them and they always made me nervous. I thought I was just to much of a worrying type and my concerns about safety were silly. i read the AJC article and it is heart breaking and yours is a truly worthy cause most people do not think about until after the fact. keep of up the good work!
When my daughter moved into her dorm, both beds were lofted at the highest level. I wanted her to lower it at least on level as I was afraid she’d hit her head on the ceiling. She didnt. At least the windows were much too small to fall from.
I hope the universitit’s take notice of this and at least start the beds out at a lower ,evel. They are a pi
a in to move, and I don’t think most would move them. My daughter is much to lazy to do it.
Someone on my daughters Facebook posted a photo of her TCU (Texas Christian university) dorm room, and it was a high lofted bed with no rail. I googled and found that seems to be common at TCU. @RADRailMom If you’re gathering a list of schools to contact about this, TCU should probably be on it.
Just found out that College of Charleston offers bedrails free of charge for their lofted beds . After move in ,the student can request one through the online work order system. It might be helpful for others to check with their schools.
D is planning to loft her bed when she goes back to school in a couple of weeks. After reading this discussion, I brought up the idea of installing rails. I expected the typical teenaged eyeroll reaction from her. Instead, she looked a little concerned and agreed that that would be a good idea.
I brought this up to our sorority house Corp board that I just joined (the house sleeps about 47). We are getting new furniture and the designer will ensure that any bunks have rails. There are three bunk beds currently in the house and we are going to buy rails and install them in the meantime. Thank you for this!
Thank YOU for spreading the word! Rails can save lives!
I’m so sorry for hat your family has been through…but thank you for taking up this initiative. I’ve never been a fan of bunk or lofted beds. We never owned them, and luckily our kids never had to sleep in them.
DD was able to raise her bed enough to fit her suitcases underneath…really, my regular bed is higher. And she did have a rail.
I agree that rails should be on bunks…and the need to be permanently installed…so they cannot be removed.
When I was in college, I slept on the top of a triple bunk! It had rails. They don’t have those anymore!
That’s absolutely terrifying. There is nothing no way I’m lofting my bed- I hate heights any way.
Great post Mariellen. I went on here to see if anyone looked at mine (not yet, ha) but I did see yours! So happy you are reaching so many. As I posted on my wall, anyone reading this, please find the Rail Against the Danger facebook page and share on your own wall and ask others to do it as well. Let’s all help share this information and make it go viral. (To those other than Clark’s Mom, our son was at the amazing Shepherd Center and we crossed paths with this family at that time. So many accidents, and traumas going on. The one Clark suffered can be prevented. Please help with that!). Love and hugs to all the other Shepherd Families reading this post.
EllieMom- long onto your faceboook and search for Rail Against the Danger. Share that page and aske others to do that as well. Thanks for doing your part to get the word out!!!
@RADRailMom My daughter just started her freshman year at TCU in a lofted bed. She definitely wants a rail for her bed (she has a close friend that fell off one years ago and broke her jaw). I will contact the school to see of we can request one. If they can’t provide one, can you suggest one that I can purchase? I’m worried that if I can’t purchase one she will keep it the way it is because her roommate set it up that way before she moved in and she really likes the additional space it gives. There are some rails at Walmart and on Amazon made by Regalo. Any knowledge about these sorts of rails used on bunk beds with teens?
I will share the Rail Against the Danger page on Facebook since it is common at TCU as @choirsandstages stated. I will let you know if I have any luck with getting the rail provided by the school.
I am surprised that university - owned housing with loftable beds doesn’t always include bed rails!
Thank you sharing, @RADRailMom .
Well I shouldn’t have worried. TCU has rails and will install them for us. I do wish they would mention this in the move-in information that was provided, but I am very happy that this will be no problem. Thank you @RADRailMom for your post also @carolinamom2boys for suggesting to check with the school. I will spread the word that they are available.
Oh @RADRailMom , I am so sorry about your son, but happy to hear he is recovering now, albeit slowly. So sorry you and your family have dealt with such tragedy.
My husband shared a story with me a month ago from a woman he works with - her niece’s roommate lofted her bed, did not have a rail, and on the very first night she moved in, fell out of bed. The woman’s niece woke up the next morning and her roommate was on the floor, and had died.
After that, I read several stories online about young people falling out of lofted beds that had no rail.
It really appalls me that the rail on lofted dorm beds is considered optional. At my daughter’s university, you have to ask for one, it doesn’t come with the bed - although the bed comes lofted when you move into the room. (If you want it UN lofted, you have to do that yourself).
Her dorm room is small enough that there is no way to not loft the bed unless you put the short dresser or bookcase given, in the closet. My daughter did just that so she wouldn’t have to loft. Thankfully there was still enough room in her closet for hanging things…
But it really annoys me that the room seems to be set up for lofting the bed - and rails are not provided as a matter of course. I think they should be mandatory.
My D is a rising sophomore at Pomona. In her freshman year she had a double. Both beds were already lofted at move in and there were no rails. I’m convinced the room was originally a single because it was so tiny. The rest of the floor space was taken up by the two desks and 2 small desk chairs. If the beds had not been lofted, there literally would not have been any place to put each girl’s short dresser. But at least they weren’t as high up as the ones that are lofted over desks. I saw lots of rooms in her dorm with this set up and don’t think anybody had a rail. She had a friend at American who lofted his bed over his desk, fell off in September and fractured his foot. Ended up on crutches and a scooter for a while but thankfully nothing worse than that.
I agree that rails should be mandatory if beds are lofted. It’s especially upsetting that some schools are effectively forcing kids to loft the bed or forego having any dresser.