What's happening
This bill requires window guards on fire escape windows in New York multiple dwellings where children ten or under reside.
Why it matters
Enhances child safety in apartments. By mandating window guards where children ten or under live, the bill addresses a leading cause of accidental injury and death in urban settings—children falling from windows.
Targets fire escape accessibility. The requirements ensure that window guards on fire escape windows don’t obstruct emergency exits, as guards must be quickly releasable and approved by the fire commissioner, balancing child safety with fire safety needs.
Creates enforceable standards and penalties. Owners or managers who fail to comply face civil penalties up to $500 per violation, establishing a clear incentive for compliance and a legal recourse for unsafe conditions.
Standardizes equipment and oversight. By specifying that the fire commissioner must approve the type and installation of window guards, the bill provides a consistent, citywide standard, reducing ambiguity and potential loopholes in implementation.
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Who cares
Multiple-dwelling owners and managers
They would have to provide, install and maintain window guards in apartments housing children age ten or younger and on public-hall windows in buildings where those children live, with violations subject to civil penalties of up to $500 each.
Families with children age ten or younger
The bill would require window guards in their apartments while prohibiting locks that impede immediate access to a fire escape.
Window-guard manufacturers and installers
Guards could not have locking mechanisms except release devices that preserve immediate fire-escape access and meet standards adopted and approved by the fire commissioner.
Fire commissioners
They would set minimum standards for permitted window-guard release devices and approve those devices for use.
Headline styles
Require Fire Escape Window Guards
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to housing
- Referred to housing
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
7308
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 21, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. TITONE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Housing
AN ACT to amend the multiple dwelling law, in relation to window guards on fire escape windows for multiple dwellings
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Paragraph c of subdivision 1 of section 53 of the multiple dwelling law, as amended by chapter 814 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read as follows:
c. Access to any fire-escape shall not be obstructed by sinks or kitchen fixtures or in any other way. Iron bars, grilles, gates, or other obstructing devices on any window giving access to [fire-escapes or to] a required secondary means of egress shall be unlawful unless such devices are of a type approved by the board of appeals and are installed and maintained as prescribed by the board; provided, however, that in a city having a population of one million or more, such devices shall be of a type approved, installed and maintained as prescribed by the fire commissioner, or as previously approved and prescribed by the board of standards and appeals of such city, except as otherwise provided by said commissioner.
§ 2. Subdivision 1 of section 53 of the multiple dwelling law is amended by adding a new paragraph e to read as follows:
e. (1) The owner, lessee, agent or other person who manages or controls a multiple dwelling shall provide, install and maintain a window guard on the windows of each apartment in which a child or children ten years of age or under reside, and on the windows, if any, in the public halls of a multiple dwelling in which such children reside.
(2) No window guard shall be equipped with a padlock, key lock, combination lock or any other locking mechanism, except that such window guards may be secured with a device that is capable of releasing in such a manner that immediate access to such fire escape is not impeded. Such
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11001-01-7
A. 7308 2
device shall meet minimum standards adopted by the fire commissioner and shall be approved for use by the fire commissioner.
(3) Any violation of the provisions of this section shall constitute a civil violation subject to a penalty of not more than five hundred dollars per violation.
§ 3. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.