Ottoman style beds: SAFETY WARNING

mattyfez

mattyfez

mattyfez

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Not a nice way to go...

www.independent.co.uk

Mother dies after being trapped and suffocated in own ottoman bed

Helen Davey was killed after mattress fell on her head and trapped her
www.independent.co.uk www.independent.co.uk

TLDR: gas struts failed and choked woman when accessing under bed storage.

I have a bed like this and its quite a concern... the gas struts that hold the frame up can fail - I think they are basically the same sort of strut that holds car boots open - and they absolutley do fail from time to time.
My double matress must weigh the best part of 50kg, there's no way anyone's going to lift that up by themselves if they are pinned under it by the neck.....

Makes me think I need some sort of additional fail safe like propping a large item under it to stop it comming all the way down if the struts fail.

Maybe they should come with some sort of locking pin to lock the bed frame open when you want to have a rummage underneath it?
 
all 3 of our beds are these types, they are just so practical! but it is worth keeping the potential issue in mind, i dont see any practical way around the risk other than by making them more hassle to use.

defintely a good reason to make sure our 8 year old does not play with it however.... his bed is much lighter than ours but then he wont have the same upper body strength so probably swings and roundabouts.
 
bigmike20vt said:
all 3 of our beds are these types, they are just so practical! but it is worth keeping the potential issue in mind, i dont see any practical way around the risk other than by making them more hassle to use.

defintely a good reason to make sure our 8 year old does not play with it however.... his bed is much lighter than ours but then he wont have the same upper body strength so probably swings and roundabouts.
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Put a safety 2x4 in there to prop it open maybe? Like when you put the wheel you've removed the under the car in case the jack fails...
 
mattyfez said:
My double matress must weigh the best part of 50kg, there's no way anyone's going to lift that up by themselves if they are pinned under it by the neck.....
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To be honest I'm struggling to imagine a failure mechanism where someone at least reasonable fit has got no way to get leverage at all to at least alleviate the weight, though I can imagine people who aren't in good health may be unable to free themselves.
 
The gas struts should be replaced with the type that latch at their top position - to release the latch you push up again and drop it down. My 90's era car has them fitted to the rear hatch so they've been around for a while.

Normal gas struts are only there to aid lifting and should not be relied on for keeping the lid or cover up (BMW I'm looking at you!).
 
yeah I read this article today. I have a ottoman myself, with same gas struts. Pretty heavy so can see it suffocating someone, just bad luck it failed at the worst time, if it was a few inches higher or lower it would have just hit her shoulders/head and would have been ok
Rroff said:
To be honest I'm struggling to imagine a failure mechanism where someone at least reasonable fit has got no way to get leverage at all to at least alleviate the weight, though I can imagine people who aren't in good health may be unable to free themselves.
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I think if it fails at the worst possible time, with your neck right above the frame it could be pretty bad, heavy weight (probably at least 20kg) on thin frame on soft neck.
 
Rroff said:
To be honest I'm struggling to imagine a failure mechanism where someone at least reasonable fit has got no way to get leverage at all to at least alleviate the weight, though I can imagine people who aren't in good health may be unable to free themselves.
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Not if you are pinned under it by the neck guillotine style...

You aint' lifting nothing!! its not just the weight of the matress, (a double can easily weigh 50kg on its own) its the weight of the the metal frame, too, you just won't have the leverage to free yourself unless someone else is there to lift it for you.

Trust me, I own one and I don't think I'd be able to free myself.... I could if it pinned me on the chest/shoulders, probably, but not by the neck... apart from being choked and fighting to breathe, if it didnt put you unconcious straight away, you just wouldn't have the leverage to lift that weight from that position..

This is simmilar to mine and weighs 54kg, for example... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silentnight-Mattress-Comfort-Fillings-Support/dp/B07G3Q6R7F?th=1
 
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Ours is in 2 halves so unless both failed at the same time I think I'm pretty safe as I'd only have the weight of the wooden frame on me which is very little.
 
You also wonder how many of these have been loaded up with overweight mattresses - I have an Ikea Ottoman (Malm I think) and that says not to use a mattress over 40kg - fine for most Ikea mattresses, not so good if you throw some luxury 50kg+ mattress on it. I doubt that many people bother checking that sort of detail, so not hard to imagine there's a lot of these sort of beds out there with gas struts being strained more than they were designed to be safe for.
 
We have one of these in the spare room that has failed in the exact same way after only 6 years. Luckily it failed when it was down. Hate the thing!
 
mattyfez said:
Not if you are pinned under it by the neck guillotine style...

You aint' lifting nothing!! its not just the weight of the matress, (a double can easily weigh 50kg on its own) its the weight of the the metal frame, too, you just won't have the leverage to free yourself unless someone else is there to lift it for you.

Trust me, I own one and I don't think I'd be able to free myself.... I could if it pinned me on the shoulders, probably, but not by the neck...

This is simmilar to mine and weighs 54kg, for example... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silentnight-Mattress-Comfort-Fillings-Support/dp/B07G3Q6R7F?th=1
Click to expand...

Also the acceleration of it falling, so could have crushed her windpipe etc. Mine's only a double, so let's say she had a larger mattress as well.
 
mattyfez said:
Not if you are pinned under it by the neck guillotine style...

You aint' lifting nothing!! its not just the weight of the matress, (a double can easily weigh 50kg on its own) its the weight of the the metal frame, too, you just won't have the leverage to free yourself unless someone else is there to lift it for you.

Trust me, I own one and I don't think I'd be able to free myself.... I could if it pinned me on the shoulders, probably, but not by the neck...

This is simmilar to mine and weighs 54kg, for example... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silentnight-Mattress-Comfort-Fillings-Support/dp/B07G3Q6R7F?th=1
Click to expand...

I could see it if for some reason your neck was in close proximity to the lower edge and it suddenly fell quickly but that is a situation I'd very much try to avoid personally.
 
Kenai said:
You also wonder how many of these have been loaded up with overweight mattresses - I have an Ikea Ottoman (Malm I think) and that says not to use a mattress over 40kg - fine for most Ikea mattresses, not so good if you throw some luxury 50kg+ mattress on it. I doubt that many people bother checking that sort of detail, so not hard to imagine there's a lot of these sort of beds out there with gas struts being strained more than they were designed to be safe for.
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that is as maybe but then health and safety should be such that the designers really should account for that as an easily forseeable issue. hell the one we bought recently, the sales people made absolutely zero mention of any mattress weight limits, and ours really does weigh a ton!..... one is a king sized pocket sprung job then with a 2 inch memory foam topper built into it, and the other a king sized full memory foam job which weighs just as much if not more i think.

whilst the idea of a 2 by 4 chock to act as a failsafe would work from a practical POV (and makes complete "man" sense) there is no way that would be getting the wife seal of approval, where functionality comes second place to looks!.
 
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bigmike20vt said:
whilst the idea of a 2 by 4 chock to act as a failsafe would work from a practical POV (and makes complete "man" sense) there is no way that would be getting the wife seal of approval, where functionality comes second place to looks!.
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Good idea...I was thinking of having some sort of chock stored under the bed, so first thing you do when you lift it up is chock it somehow incase of strut failiure... needent be an eye store if its stashed under the bed.
 
mattyfez said:
Good idea...I was thinking of having some sort of chock stored under the bed, so first thing you do when you lift it up is chock it somehow incase of strut failiure... needent be an eye store if its stashed under the bed.
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Was just a freak accident, unfortunately. How many beds have failed? And out of those how many were accidents, near misses and fatal?

Bigger issues to be worried about tbh
 
Our mattress is too heavy so the bed won't stay open anyway, so there's a big chunk of wood we use to hold it up, so that's a good thing I guess!
 
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hornetstinger said:
Was just a freak accident, unfortunately. How many beds have failed? And out of those how many were accidents, near misses and fatal?

Bigger issues to be worried about tbh
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Maybe so, but for the sake of sourcing a bit of knackered railway sleeper offcut or something to stash under the bed, that I can upturn to act as a physical barrier... I shall be keeping my eye out for a suitable chunk of wood to act as a fail safe!

My mattress is pretty much right on the weight limit of the bed at 55kg according to the above, and I have to wonder how much margin of error they build into these gas struts... Everything seems to be designed /specced on a shoe string so it wouldn't supprise me at all if 55kg is literally right on the mechanical limit for the struts...
... And that's assuming they are in good working order and don't develop a fault over time... I know they can and do fail because the ones on my car boot no longer work properly!
 
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