Important Information Reguarding Window Blinds

*DISCLAIMER* Please note that the information below is not up to date. There have been many more studies done on this subject. I do not want to give you the false feeling of security of thinking that all one has to do is install the locks on the blinds or even tie them up to make them safe. This is not the case. Doing this does help, but it does not make the blinds safe! The only safe blind's are the ones NOT IN YOUR HOME!!

Source: CPSC

Window Covering Cords

Window covering cords are one of the products most frequently associated with strangulation of children under five. The younger victims, usually between 10 to 15 months of age, typically are in cribs that have been placed near window covering pull cords.

Although a few older children, usually from two to four years old, find cords hanging near the floor, most of these victims become entangled in cords while climbing on furniture to look out the window.

Entanglement and strangulation can occur when a child is alone in a room for only a short time. The CPSC and the Window Covering Safety Council urge parents to eliminate the loop in two-corded horizontal blinds, and pleated and cellular shades by using any of the following technical fixes:

Horizontal Blinds:

Cut the cord above the tassel, remove the equalizer buckle, and add a separate tassel at the end of each cord; or

Cut the cord above the tassel, remove the equalizer buckle, and add a breakaway tassel which will separate if a child becomes entangled in the loop. Pleated or Cellular Shades:

Leave the cord stop near the headrail in place. Cut the cord above the tassel and add a separate tassel at the end of each cord. Warning: When shades are raised, a loop will appear above the cord stop. Keep cords out of the reach of children.

Vertical Blinds, Continuous Loop Systems, and Drapery Cords:

Install a cord tie-down device. Permanently attach and use the tie-down to floor, wall, or window jamb.

Keep all window covering cords out of the reach of children. Unless the cords can be completely removed from a child's reach, including when a child climbs on furniture, CPSC recommends against knotting or tying the cords together which creates a new loop for a child to become entangled.

Replacement safety tassels are available free of charge at window covering retailers. Consumers can call (800) 506-4636 to find the location of the nearest store or to order free tassels.

CPSC also recommends that when you install window coverings, adjust the cords to their shortest length possible. When you order new custom window coverings, specify that you want a short cord.

A study released in 1997 by JAMAWASHINGTON, D.C. shows that strangulation deaths from window cords happen most often when children are in places their parents think are safe: in a crib or in a child's bedroom. The study also points out that the deaths are silent -- the children can't call out for help. In 85% of the documented cases, parents were at home at the time of the incident.

According to the study, there are two common ways children strangle in these cords:

1) Infants in cribs near windows get tangled in the looped cords while sleeping or playing; and,

2) toddlers, trying to look out a window, climb on furniture, lose their footing, and get caught in the window cords.

The mortality rate from window cords makes them among the greatest strangulation threats to children three years old and younger. Other products that present a strangulation hazard to children in the home and have been redesigned include strings on pacifiers, recliner chairs, accordion-style baby gates and electric garage doors. Approximately 86% of the window coverings involved in the incidents are venetian blinds or mini-blinds. Another 9% are venetian-type vertical blinds.

To address the problem of window cord strangulations, CPSC brought together industry representatives in 1994. As a result of that meeting, the Window Covering Safety Council agreed to eliminate the loops in future production of window cords and to provide free safety tassels for consumers. Production of safer cords began in 1995. In addition, and at CPSC's urging, the industry recently agreed to a voluntary standard that eliminates all loops on mini-blind cords and requires the use of a tensioning device on the continuous loop cords that are used primarily in vertical blinds. The industry expected all production to meet the new standard by September 1997.

What parents need to know is that they can do something to prevent these tragedies. They can cut the loops of window cords, put on safety tassels, and move their furniture away from blind cords. These simple precautions can prevent a parent's worst nightmare.

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Office of Information and Public Affairs Washington, DC 20207

June 3, 1997 The Number of Children Who Strangle in Window Cords Has Been Under-reported According to a new study in JAMA WASHINGTON, D.C. -- About half of the deaths of children who strangle in window cords have not been reported, according to an article in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association and co-authored by a staff member of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

The study found that 49 percent of the total number of window cord strangulations in the United States were not being reported to the CPSC. The study estimates that total number from 1981 to 1995 was 359. These figures mean that nearly one child is strangling in window cords every two weeks. Almost all of these deaths (93 percent) are children three years old and under.

"Having this study published in a journal as highly regarded as JAMA will help bring attention to a hidden hazard that we have been trying to help eliminate since I came to the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1994," said CPSC Chairman Ann Brown. "Because of this study and the attention it generates, hundreds of young lives could be saved."

The study was co-authored by Renae Rauchschwalbe, a Compliance Officer at CPSC and Clay Mann, Ph.D. from the Department of Emergency Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland. It is the first study to so thoroughly investigate how these deaths occur.

The study shows that strangulation deaths from window cords happen most often when children are in places their parents think are safe: in a crib or in a child's bedroom. The study also points out that the deaths are silent -- the children can't call out for help. In 85 percent of the documented cases, parents were at home at the time of the incident.

According to the study, there are two common ways children strangle in these cords. Infants in cribs near windows get tangled in the looped cords while sleeping or playing; and toddlers, trying to look out a window, climb on furniture, lose their footing, and get caught in the window cords.

The mortality rate from window cords makes them among the greatest strangulation threats to children three years old and younger. Other products that present a strangulation hazard to children in the home and have been redesigned include strings on pacifiers, recliner chairs, accordion-style baby gates and electric garage doors. Eight-six percent of the window coverings involved in the incidents are venetian blinds or mini-blinds. Another nine percent are venetian-type vertical blinds.

To address the problem of window cord strangulations, CPSC brought together industry representatives in 1994. As a result of that meeting, the Window Covering Safety Council agreed to eliminate the loops in future production of window cords and to provide free safety tassels for consumers. Production of safer cords began in 1995. In addition, and at CPSC's urging, the industry recently agreed to a voluntary standard that eliminates all loops on miniblind cords and requires the use of a tensioning device on the continuous loop cords that are used primarily in vertical blinds. The industry expects all production to meet the new standard by September, 1997.

CPSC has also been working to educate parents on the dangers of blind cords through safety alerts, a series of national "Baby Safety Showers" and through mailings and posters sent to pediatricians.

"This is a hidden hazard that all parents should eliminate immediately. What parents need to know is that they can do something to prevent these tragedies," Brown said. "They can cut the loops of window cords, put on safety tassels, and move their furniture away from blind cords. These simple precautions can prevent a parent's worst nightmare."

Parents can get safety tassels and tie downs by calling the Window Covering Safety Council toll free at 1-800-506-4636. For safety information on window cords, call the CPSC Hotline at 1-800-638-2772.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission protects the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death from 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC's hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC's teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270, or visit CPSC's web site at www.cpsc.gov/talk.html. Consumers can obtain this release and recall information at CPSC's web site at www.cpsc.gov

GoldHawk.com

Dangerous Blinds
November 1, 2000

The biggest consumer recall in history is underway tonight over an unlikely product being targeted as a household killer. Investigators confirm horizontal window blinds have been linked to the strangulation deaths of nearly 130 children in Canada and the United States in the past nine years. A U.S. agency ordered the record recall of more than half a billion horizontal blinds. With more on the everyday product that is putting youngsters in peril, consumer reporter Laurie Few.

These common blinds can be deadly -- a horrible hidden hazard, according to one safety inspector. And now the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is recalling hundreds of millions of blinds for repair. One hundred and thirty strangulation deaths of young children involving blind cords occurred in the United States since 1991 -- 16 by the inner cords that hold the blind slats. In Canada, 18 children have died, strangled by the outer cords. The massive recall was prompted by the Beller family's nightmare. Their 16 month old daughter strangled in the inner cords of the window blinds near her crib.

Eric Beller, Father "When I opened the door in the room I saw her hanging from the inner cord from the mini blind."

Young children can pull on the inner cord and make a dangerous loop. Manufacturers and safety agencies are offering a free repair kit with a plastic attachment that prevents the cord from being pulled loose.

Washington - Ken Giles, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission "You simply knot the cord on the top, and then once you've knotted these onto the cord, if you try to pull the inner cord through, all you get is that much."

Health Canada warns that cribs should be placed away from horizontal blinds. The Children's Safety Association of Canada says that, although no Canadian infants have strangled in the inner cords, the inner and outer cords on all horizontal blinds can pose a risk for young children and should be repaired.

Andy Brisebois, Children's Safety Association of Canada "I understand 16 children died from inner cord strangulation and it's only a matter of time before it happens here."

More than 80 million horizontal blinds are sold each year in the United States and Canada. The recall could effect 800,000,000 window blinds bought over the past decade. The window industry redesigned blinds in 1995 so the outer cord doesn't end in a loop. Starting now the industry will once again redesign window blinds so that the inner cords can not form a loop if pulled by a young child.
Laurie Few in Toronto.

GOLDHAWK.COM POSTSCRIPT:

If you would like to get a free repair kit you can call the Children's Safety Association of Canada. That number is 1-888-499-4444. The Children's Safety Association can provide you with a repair kit for the inner and the outer cords on horizontal blinds.

You can also contact the Window Covering Safety Council at their toll free number: 1-800-506-4636 or at their web site... http://www.windowcoverings.org