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.