Yeah, the thick mattress toppers create a problem. I would go with a thinner gel one if you can’t get a taller rail. I thin the manufacturers are going to have to address a lot of issues in the coming years. They could definitely make them an asset to the student; ie: compartment to store/charge a laptop, hold a water bottle, phone, etc. I think now that the state of Georgia is going rails on we might get some traction there. Georgia Tech (my son’s school) became rails on this year and bought like 8,000 safety rails!!
@bopper == oh i am so sorry to hear about your son. How is he now?
He’s been back at Georgia Tech since August of 2016. He was injured in his second year during his co-op semester and spent 20 months getting his life back. BUT, we are so grateful that he did. Sure, he has some deficits that he will live with for the rest of his life, but he is making it on his own and living his life. Driving and everything. He truly is a miracle. This is why I have such passion for this cause. SO EASY TO PREVENT!! A stupid safety rail would have saved us so much heartache and pain.
I agree that a sufficiently high safety rail SHOULD come standard with all lofted or bunk beds. So sorry for the many injured without them.
Our kids never lofted beds, to the best of my memory and their bunk bed had a sufficient and very sturdy rail.
So glad that your son is back to school and doing well @RADRailMom. What a terrifying ordeal!
I fell out of my bunk 30 years ago and still have the scar on my leg where my dresser broke my fall. Thankfully my daughter’s school requires the use of a lofting company that includes a safety rail. Even with the bed toper, it is still high enough that it would stop her from rolling out.
Mom of Senior, do you mind me asking which school?
Norte Dame in SBend doesn’t appear to have any protective railing on their lofted beds per photos. Scary!
@HImom That’s the school I was talking about above. They have them, but they are not that high. Not high enough
It really is a relatively inexpensive fix but sad that Us aren’t prioritizing it!
@RADRailMom - Purdue!
Just returned moving daughter into Notre Dame today and all beds are provided with protective railings.
It’s up to the students to use them. My daughter put hers under her mattress until I made her attach it
to her bunked bed.
Yeah, Georgia Tech spent $243,000 to have enough rails for their 8,565 elevated beds. That’s a drop in the bucket for a large university. It costs about $40 a bed. Are you serious?? Why isn’t this done already? How many more brain injuries and deaths will it take to get a national safety standard for institutional beds? I won’t quit until it’s done. I just turned 58 so I have a good 30 years left. lol
Purdue passes the cost to their students as we had to pay to loft the bed but we had to go through the one company that has the safety rails.
I see it as a multi-faceted effort. First and foremost rail is on the bed. Sticker on the frame explaining why the rail is there and the liability incurred if you remove it. Then they need to address it in freshmen orientation and RA meetings. If there is no education or ownership by the universities, these needless injuries will continue.
My D’s school does not allow lofted beds and only allows bunk beds by special request in which case the school does the bunking and provides the rail. I was happy to read this policy on their res life page prior to our arrival. However, last year (freshman year) due to overenrollment, some doubles and triples were forced to add an additional bed and the only way to fit all the furniture was to loft or bunk the beds. My D ended up in a quad, with a bunk bed and two lofted beds. She was assigned the top bunk…grrr! However, I did make sure that her bed and the two lofted beds all had safety rails. I was pleased to see them already in place. Thankfully this year she is in a double so no bunks/lofts allowed.
Edited to add that I first came to CC about 18 months ago and read about your son’s fall back when I first came here. It really opened my eyes to the issue so I specifically went looking for information on her college’s res life page when she was choosing housing. So glad to hear he is back to school and doing well.
I’d like to remind everyone that even if a loft bed has a rail, it may not be safe. That is, it may need the rail on BOTH sides of the bed. My son’s college assured me they ALWAYS have a rail on lofts. However, when we arrived at his room, the wall facing (unrailed) side of the bed was not abutting the wall. Rather, it was pushed up against a radiator, such that he could freely role off the bed and fall over 6 feet, or even fall onto the steel radiator below. They told me “everyone” used it that way and it is fine. This is utterly ridiculous – whose to say he wouldn’t roll off the back side of the bed. I rearranged the room to allow the bed to fit up against a real wall so that this falling risk wouldn’t exist. In order to do this, we had “refuse” some of the mandatory furniture for the room. Of course that started a whole rigmarole that took a while to resolve. But it was worth it. Sleeping on an unrailed loft is equivalent to riding a motorcycle without a helmet.
I am not one to ask for more government legislation but colleges should not allow lofts and bunks. It is simply too dangerous. I also believe they should not be allowed forced triples. Again, too dangerous (fire etc.).
These schools are getting away with highway robbery with what they charge for rooms and then they make even more money cramming more students into a room than they should. The discount they pass on to the parent is really minimal.
You are so right, psycholing, In fact, what really fries me is that there is an existing safety standard for bunk and loft beds on the retail side that requires exactly what you are talking about. The CPSC came up with this standard about 10 years ago in response to a study that showed 36.000 ER visits a year from bunk and loft bed injuries. Unfortunately, residence halls, military barracks, prisons, etc. use what are known as institutional beds and there are ZERO safety standards. No requirements at all. I find this abhorrent and that is what RAD is working to change! And Empireapple, I agree 100% that with what schools charge for these tiny rooms, the BASIC standard should be offering a safe bed from the start. If the bed is mattress is over 36" off the ground, there needs to be safety rail on it. The statistics are pretty astounding. I have personally heard from many parents who had kids die from loft and bunk injuries. Mine came way too close.
I asked about rails at my daughter’s school and they just blinked at me like they didn’t understand what I was saying.
Which school? I would encourage you to contact the Housing Department Head or Director of Campus Life, etc. Tell that that you want a safety rail for your daughter’s bed. Tell them about RAD and send them to our website, explaining that they are not offering a safe bed to the student. All manufacturers that make bunk and loft beds have rails for them. They need to provide it!!