Use of wall beds in daycare centres involves safety risk that can be prevented

The child was still asleep in the upper bed of a wall bed when the daycare worker inadvertently raised the bed to an upright position at the end of the nap time session. The child was seriously injured in the accident and later died of the injuries at the hospital.

The nap time session was about to end at the daycare centre. The daycare worker in the nap room raised the beds into the upright position, as the children woke up and moved to the room next to the nap room. Some of the children were still asleep when the ones who had woken up earlier came back to the nap room and interrupted the room arrangements by the daycare worker. At the same time, the daycare worker inadvertently lifted the wall bed up – and realised that one child had gotten trapped between the bed and the wall. The staff immediately called the emergency response centre, and rescue services and emergency medical care arrived quickly.

“We have published a short animation of the bed mechanism. When the bed is raised upright, the bed’s operating mechanism allows a child in the bed to slip into the gap between the bed and the wall and become trapped, so that the position of the bed can no longer be adjusted. No defects were found in the bed’s mechanisms when investigating the matter,” says Chief Investigator Hanna Tiirinki.

​Link to an animation of the accident on YouTube

At the time of the incident, the staff-child ratio of the daycare centre was in accordance with the requirements. The daycare centre had no separate instructions for using the wall beds, and no separate training had been provided for their use. The lowering and lifting of fold-down wall beds takes place amid the daycare centre’s everyday activities, and the practices vary. The safety risks increase if children are present when moving the fold-down beds.

“The overall safety of children must be ensured in daycare centres. Both the provider of early childhood education and care and the staff at the daycare centre are responsible for this. Ensuring safe use of wall beds and anticipatory risk assessment related to their use is a priority to avoid similar accidents,” Tiirinki emphasises.

After the incident, the City of Vantaa has issued instructions to daycare centres for the use of fold-down beds stating that no children may be present in the room when folding the beds.

As a result of the incident, on 26 March 2026, the Safety Investigation Authority submitted an accident risk notification related to the use of the fold-down bed to the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency (Tukes) and the Finnish Supervisory Agency (LVV), stating that the wall-mounted fold-down cabinet beds used in daycare centres pose a serious risk of accidents. In addition, the accident risk notification was addressed to municipal early childhood education and care as a public notification.

The Safety Investigation Authority’s assessment and the issued accident threat notification comprehensively highlight the significant safety risk associated with the use of fold-down beds. After the accident, the supervisory authorities, as well as many municipalities and cities have taken safety measures. Thus, the Safety Investigation Authority will not launch a safety investigation into the incident.