Parents are being urged to secure freestanding ovens and supervise their children at all times after a 19-month-old girl was crushed under an oven in New Zealand.
The inquest of Kendra Paisley Ann Scanlon found the oven was unsecured when it fell on her on April 28, 2022 at her family home in Rotorua, on the North Island.
An Australian electrician said unsecured large appliances are also an issue in Australia and his inspection business has found about 20 per cent of homes have unsecured ovens.
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Coroner Matthew Bates said, in his findings published this week, Kendra was found at 11am cold, not moving and crushed by her neck and torso.
Her four-year-old brother, who had been climbing on the oven with her, was also seriously injured.
The pair were covered in cooking oil and dry noodles when they were found on the kitchen floor.
The inquest found the 61kg freestanding oven was not secured to the wall or floor, and there were no local government laws requiring it.
Bates said Kendra was dearly loved and taken care of well.
But the incident was a reminder to parents of the importance of constantly supervising their children, he said.
“If direct supervision of young children at home is not possible, for even brief periods, and children are permitted to play around the house, all care must be taken to ensure the environment is safe,” Bates said.
“As will be appreciated, children can move quickly and quietly. Many are naturally curious and will explore or climb given the opportunity, particularly if following the example of others.”
He also suggested councils consider making it compulsory that freestanding ovens be secured.
What happened?
Kendra’s parents were night shift workers who had relatives stay with them to look after their four children while they were at work.
The parents said Kendra was an active child who was known to climb tables, chairs, pantry shelves and bunk beds.
Although she was never known to climb on the oven, her father caught her opening the oven door to get leftover food once before.
He said Kendra was also starting to use chairs to climb up to get food from the bench or pantry.
On the morning she was found dead, Kendra’s parents had slept in and a relative staying at the house woke them when they realised the children were not at school or childcare like they should have been.
Kendra’s mother woke up and noticed the hallway covered in dried noodles, which the kids loved to eat, as well as powder.
When she entered the kitchen and found Kendra under the Simpson Atlas oven, she screamed for her husband to help.
Her four-year-old son was sitting nearby, pointing towards his sister, covered in oil from a pot that had been sitting on the stove from the night before.
When he was asked what happened, the four-year-old said the oven fell.
He said he and Kendra had been playing on it, and he tried to wake up his mother earlier to tell her.
Kendra’s parents rushed her to hospital but she could not be revived.
Her brother had also sustained critical injuries but later recovered.
Police reconstructed events that took place the day Kendra died and concluded her brother’s weight of about 20kg on the edge of the oven door would have caused the oven to tip over in a violent fashion.
Freestanding oven requirements Australia
Oven Fixer gas technician Michael Bailey inspects properties in Victoria to ensure they meet housing standards.
He said in about 20 per cent of inspections his business conducts every year, unsecured ovens are a concern.
This is despite local councils requiring ovens to be installed according to the manufacturers’ guidelines, he said.
“It usually comes with a bracket to secure it, but they’re all different … if they don’t have the bracket with them or the bracket’s missing you can do it with stability chains,” Bailey said.
“It’s supposed to prevent someone pulling on the oven and the oven falling over or if you had a pot of hot water on and the oven tipped.”