Wooden Blinds | Child Safety

Research suggests that most blind cord accidents happen in a bedroom setting with children between the ages of 16 and 36 months. The position of the cot is a crucial factor when installing your child`s first window blind. Online when you search for the term “child`s cot” in Google Images several images of a cot next to a window appear, we advise against this especially if you have a window blind. To protect your child from blind cords and chains keep his/her cot well away from the window. Child safety devices also help to keep blind cords and chains out of the reach of children.

Wooden Blinds Direct are giving away thousands of free child safety devices to help raise awareness about the risks of blind cords and chains. You can request yours by clicking on the following link: http://interiorgoodsdirect.com/child-safety/index.php .

Sara (O’Dacre) Lauer- Health Canada states that: “Children can be entangled in pull cords or inner cords while sleeping or playing in cribs or beds under the window covering; they can also climb on furniture to reach cords.”

National Child Safety Week: 24th-30th June

National Child Safety Week is a great time to generate awareness about blind cord and chain safety. The CAPT focus on protecting children from any accidents, illnesses and unnecessary harm; we believe the issue of blind cord and chain safety should be emphasised, which is why Interior Goods Direct Limited has decided to launch a new Child Safety Campaign.

Strangulation from unrestrained blind cords, braids, loops and chains can be a real danger if you have active and lively children. Therefore we need to find ways to reduce the risk of this happening to our children.

• “The safest window coverings are ones that have no cords that you can see or touch.”

• “If there are corded window coverings in the home, make sure the cords are up high and out of reach of children.”

• “Never put a crib, bed, highchair, playpen or any piece of furniture that a child may climb near a window or patio where there is a blind or curtain cord.”

• “Follow manufacturer’s instructions when installing window blinds. For example, if a tension device is provided with the product, the tension device should always be installed to make the cord taut as per the installation instruction” Sara (O’Dacre) Lauer- Health Canada

 “It takes 10 seconds for a child to lose consciousness and they can die within 50 seconds of becoming entangled in a cord” Arron O’Conell, Founder of Window Blind Safety. 

This is something which is becoming more common in younger children and especially toddlers who are finding their feet, who can climb and hold themselves up.

Trading Standards Institute is teaming up with 28 other organisations to call for a pan-European accident and injury database.

The United Kingdom lost its accident and injury database more than 10 years ago –however TSI are actively supporting other campaigns to help reinstate such a system.

Chairman of the Trading Standards Institute Christine Heemskerk said: “Comprehensive injury and accident data would help highlight areas of concern to enable authorities to take appropriate action to help prevent accidents and improve product safety.  All such data we are now working on in the UK is 10 years old, and therefore doesn’t for example include the blind cord tragedies that took another child’s life as recently as a few weeks ago.“

“An enormous effort was put both by the manufacturers, testing laboratories and the Consumer Representatives to amend the existing standards for internal blinds and other types of coverings to ensure that products produced according to them are safe for children as far as risk of strangulation is concerned” Karolina Krzystek  Programme manager CEN

Wooden Blinds Direct are wanting to eliminate the risk of strangulation and entanglement by advising parents and carers to keep blind cords and chains out of the reach of children.

 Additional reading and references

 http://www.capt.org.uk/resources/talking-about-strangulation

http://www.cencenelec.eu/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/index.cfm

product_safety/607/window_blind_cord_danger_to_small_childrenhttp://www.windowblindsafety.ie/

https://mdportal.lpch.org/healthday/article.jsp?cat=news&id=675981

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/15/toddler-hanged-roller-blind-cord-hoegh

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-21564412