I have strong opinions on this one.

When our youngest was 18 months old, we drove our oldest son (then 8)
to his first day at summer camp. We were all sitting on built in seats
on the deck of the main dining hall, talking to the camp nurse when
our daughter who was sitting between her brothers somehow managed to
skootch backwards bum first and go between the horizonal rails - they
were probably a foot apart. It happened in a heartbeat, and due to the
the way the ground sloped at the side of the building, she fell at
least 10 feet, just missing a pile of rocks. She had the wind knocked
out of her, so when we all ran around the edge of the deck, she was
lying still in the leaves and dirt - and I had one of those out of body
moments when I thought we'd lost her - or at least she'd never be okay
again. An ambulence was called, and off we went to the hospital with
her strapped to a spinal board (she wailed all the way since she wanted
to be picked up). Turned out, probably because she landed in the leaves
and she was so small, she had no serious injuries.

When we went back to pick up our son two weeks later, the camp had
changed out their railing - and put in vertical slats. If you had seen
the original railing, you would never have thought a toddler could get
between those slats, and like I said, she was through there in two
seconds flat - three adults were within grabbing distance of her and
none of us even saw her starting to wiggle backwards. It was like one
second she was sitting there and the next she was gone.

Most safety experts will tell you - horizontal slats facilitate
climbing - and if a kid can climb the railing, they will. There should
be no horizontal slats that form a ladder up the railing. Railings
should be at least a meter high (i.e. 3 feet), with a closely spaced
vertical slats bet - usually 4" centers. Don't try to save money on
this one.

Its been 6 years since she fell and I still think about it all the time
- and I can't tell you how many dangerous decks I've seen since then
that give me a sick feeling.

Mary