The early childhood education department of the City of Espoo has taken safety measures following the death of a child in a fold-down bed accident at a daycare centre in Vantaa recently.
The city authority issued instructions to both the city and privately operated early childhood education centres about the safe use of fold-down beds, said the City of Espoo in a press release on Tuesday.
The authorities are currently reviewing the use and condition of fold-down beds in Espoo and will decide further measures based on the review.
The child sustained wounds at Kelokuusen daycare centre in Vantaa on March 24 after being crushed between a folding bed and a wall when some of the children were waking up from naptime at the daycare and later succumbed to the wounds on April 3.
Police said that a staff of the daycare centre noticed the two-year-old child in the bed, but the staff´s attention was distracted by another child momentarily. The staff then inadvertently lifted the bed up as a result the child slipped into a gap between the bed and the wall and became trapped.
The Safety Investigation Authority of Finland (Otkes) in its preliminary report said that the Vantaa accident was not caused by a technical fault in the bed but was related to its use.
According to Otkes, fold-down beds can pose serious safety risks in a day care setting if the beds are not used and supervised properly.
“The incident is shocking and deeply affects the entire early childhood education community. We have received numerous enquiries from parents and other residents. The safety and wellbeing of children are our highest priority. Since fold-down beds are also used in Espoo, we immediately took measures to ensure children’s safety,” said Ulla Lehtonen, Director of Finnish Early Childhood Education of the City of Espoo.
Immediately after Otkes preliminary report, Espoo’s early childhood education services prepared safety instructions for daycare centres that use fold-down beds.
These instructions were based on Otkes’s initial assessment of the factors behind the Vantaa accident.
The safety instructions were distributed to all municipal early childhood education units and private service providers in Espoo on 27 March 2026.
Guardians were also informed about the issuing of the safety instructions on the same day. The instructions provided to the units were specified in April.
The specified instructions were based, among other things, on new information regarding the circumstances of the Vantaa accident.
The authority said the use of fold‑down beds is based on careful advance planning and continuous supervision of children. When the fold‑down beds are raised or lowered, children are in a different room. When raising the beds, it is always ensured that there is no child in the bed.
Staff have also been instructed to monitor that children do not raise or lower the fold‑down beds themselves.
For example, children are not allowed to be in the same space as the fold‑down beds without adult supervision when the beds are in the lowered position. All units in Espoo have been reminded that the entire staff, including substitutes, must be familiarised with the new instructions.
In early April, Espoo’s early childhood education services also decided that a label with safety instructions will be affixed to each fold-down bed.
The instructions have been discussed with staff in settings such as extended management team meetings and individual day care team meetings. In addition, Espoo’s early childhood education services will update its safety plan regarding the use of fold-down beds.
Espoo’s early childhood education services are also following the progress of Otkes’s investigation, as well as the instructions and recommendations issued by authorities and fold-down bed manufacturers, to ensure the safety of all children in early childhood education.
- Espoo
- Daycare
- Vantaa
- Child
- Death
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
