A boy found dead after a 15-storey fall from an Ottawa highrise on Monday night, fell out a top floor window and not off a balcony, police confirmed Wednesday afternoon.

Police are still investigating the incident that took place at a building in Ottawa's west end around 10 p.m. Monday, and still have no details about what led up to the fall of the three-year-old boy, said Const. Isabelle Lemieux.

She added that an autopsy is being performed in Toronto, but the boy's name is not being released at his family's request.

Housing agency to check windows

The incident took place at 1465 Caldwell Ave., at a building owned by the city's public housing agency, Ottawa Community Housing Corp.

On Wednesday morning, CEO Ron Larkin said the corporation would randomly examine the windows in other units in its highrise buildings as a precautionary measure.

Staff will be checking whether the windows are properly equipped with locking "restrictor" devices to prevent windows from opening beyond a certain width, he said. He added that some residents remove the devices to clean the screens and then don't reinstall them.

Parents can reduce the risk of their children falling out windows if they remove from underneath them all furniture that children could use to climb up, said Suzanne Robillard, a spokeswoman for the Canada Safety Council.

"Children are curious. They are going to climb to look out and to get the beautiful fresh air," she said Tuesday. "Screens are not reliable … they're just made to keep bugs out, not children in."