Growing demand for apartment units in the capital has been followed by increasing concern over the safety of living in such tall buildings, especially for residents with children.

In 2012 alone, three children, ranging in age from 2 to 6 years old, lost their lives by falling from their apartments.

The head of City Construction and Supervision and Regulation Agency, I Putu Ngurah Indiana, said on Friday that his agency would not take any steps to tighten security at high-rise buildings after the children’s deaths, which he attributed to their parents’ carelessness.

“Most apartments inspected have complied with regulations for constructing tall buildings. The developers have to consult with us and a team of architectural experts before they get permission to start building,” Putu said.

Construction standards are stipulated in a number of regulations, including a 2005 governmental regulation on buildings and a 2007 ministerial regulation on building construction permits.

He said, for instance, the agency obliged developers to make sure balcony railings were made of metal and were at least 1.4 meters tall, with openings too narrow for children to get through.

He added that the agency did not require developers to provide security trellises for windows, saying, “No one living on high floors would open their windows because the wind blows too strongly.”

The latest incident occurred on Sept. 29 when a toddler plunged from a window on the 28th floor of the Puri Garden Apartment in West Jakarta. Two-year-old Vincent was alone in the apartment room when the accident happened. His babysitter had gone down to the lobby to pick up the boy’s sibling.

Krisna Murti, 30, a resident living on the 28th floor of Sudirman Park Apartment in Central Jakarta said he was concerned about the safety of his children because the apartment did not provide residents with trellised windows.

The man, who has two children under the age of five, said that he opened the windows every morning to let fresh air in and cooking odors out. “Who knows what my kids do when they are left unguarded. Kids love to climb things without realizing the danger,” he said, adding that he finally installed trellises himself.

He also said he felt anxious standing on his balcony despite the fact that there was a chest-high railing. He said that since he had moved there in 2009, four people had died from falling off balconies. Two were accidents and the others were suicides.

Noted architect Ridwan Kamil said that equipping windows of high-rise buildings with trellises should be a top priority for building developers.

“Nothing is impossible as anyone, from children to elderly people, can live in apartments,” Ridwan said.

The management of some apartments, however, have learned lessons from the accidents at their buildings and have decided to increase their standards of safety.

Permata Senayan Apartment in South Jakarta, for example, began providing trellises for their tenants’ apartments after a six-year-old boy fell from the fifth floor of the building in 2007. The boy survived only because he hit a ledge on the third floor of the building before falling to the ground.

“We took the initiative [to improve safety] as we don’t want accidents like that to happen again,” Albert Toy, the apartment’s tenant relations manager, said on Tuesday.

Ridwan and Putu said that however safely an apartment was constructed, accidents would continue to occur if parents did not keep a watchful eye on their children.

Ridwan said architects had to balance the safety and the design of a building, but the best measure was for parents to never leave their children unattended.

Putu also called on tenants to take preventive measures.

“Always lock windows and doors to the outside. Plus, never put furniture or climbable things under the windows or on the balcony,” he said. (aml)

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