MISSION
Raise the Rail, Inc. is a suicide prevention nonprofit focused on diminishing suicide-by-jumping through means safety, that is, by reducing access to objects or items (“means”) that people use to suicide.
MY STORY
My father, Fred Kopel, and older brother, Dan Kopel, both died by suicide, 20 years apart – my father by jumping. Their deaths profoundly shaped the person I became. As any survivor of suicide can tell you, the grief, the loss, and the lingering questions are always with me.
As an architect, I’ve always wondered why the highest code-prescribed railings are only 42”, roughly waist height. It was a passive sort of wondering until a few years ago, when I watched in horror the series of jumping deaths at the Vessel in Hudson Yards. It was these deaths – so predictable to anyone reading the literature, so preventable -- that galvanized me to action. Raising rails is a simple, proven solution to a complex problem.
SUMMARY
According to the most recent available data, there are more than one thousand suicides by jumping in the United States each year. More than 500 of these tragic deaths occur in New York City – more than eight times the national average. Research shows that 71 percent of all suicides occur within one hour of the decision – 25 percent occur within just five minutes. Suicide by jumping is often an impulsive action. Research has proven that means safety can greatly reduce suicide. Contrary to common assumptions, many people do not seek out and complete suicide by other means.
STRATEGIES AND GOALS
Raise the Rail uses five key strategies to reduce the number of tragic and preventable suicides by jumping:
Build a community of stakeholder survivors (those who grieve the death of someone who has died by jumping), giving them a space to grieve and remember their loved ones in a supportive environment and mobilizing them to speak out and take action on raising rails.
Build a coalition of suicide prevention organizations to support raising rails.
Raise awareness among policymakers and decision makers (architects, developers, builders, regulators, the International Code Council).
Research, create and disseminate a framework and toolkit for assessing and mitigating the risk of jumping for buildings, bridges, and other structures.
Amend the 2030 IBC and other relevant codes to raise required railing heights.
In the next several months Raise the Rail will be building its own stand-alone website at www.raisetherail.org.
