For the last 30 years, about one child a month dies by strangling in the cords of window blinds.
Throughout that time, the window blind industry has been unwilling to stop making and selling the dangerous window blinds.
Elliot Kaye, chair of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said window blinds with cords should be banned. Kaye made the recommendation during an ABC report on children being killed by window blind cords.
The commission doesn’t have the legal authority to outright ban hazardous products without a lengthy process, so Kaye has been putting pressure on manufacturers and retailers, the ABC report said.
IKEA and Target have stopped selling window blinds with cords. Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Walmart also will stop selling them, but not until late 2018.
Children who died
It was heartbreaking to watch the dozens of photos of small children who have died flash across the screen. You can see their photos here.
Below are two stories from the commission about children who died:
A 22-month-old boy
Four years ago, a mom and dad installed corded Roman shades in their first son’s bedroom. Over time, the family grew, with the first son becoming the oldest of four children. The youngest children included a 22-month-old boy and a newborn baby girl.
Mom and dad regularly tried to tie the hanging window covering cords up so that they didn’t hang down, using a bracket that had been provided for each shade.
One day, the 22-month-old was playing in his older brother’s room. Dad left him playing for about 10 minutes. When Dad returned, he found his little boy standing with both feet on the ground and the Roman shade cord hanging around his neck. The cord was tangled at the end and created a noose around the boy’s neck. Ten days later, the boy died in a hospital. His cause of death: accidental strangulation.
A 4-year-old girl
A nearly 4-year-old girl spent her morning playing and watching a movie in her bedroom. The girl liked to look out her window at children arriving and departing from a nearby childcare center. This is what her mother thinks she was trying to do on her last morning alive.
The girl’s mother was making lunch around noon. Between 5 and 15 minutes after the girl was last seen, her 6-year-old brother went up to the bedroom that the two shared. He found his sister hanging from the horizontal window blind’s operating cords. The girl’s father didn’t have an easy way to get the cords off his daughter’s neck. While holding her, the dad chewed the cords free. The girl was pronounced dead upon her arrival at the hospital.
What parents need to do to prevent strangulation deaths
- Examine all shades and blinds in the home. Make sure there are no accessible cords on the front, side, or back of the product. The commission recommends the use of cordless window coverings in all homes where children live or visit.
- Don’t place cribs, beds, and furniture close to the windows because children can climb on them and gain access to the cords.
- Make loose cords inaccessible.
- If the window covering has looped bead chains or nylon cords, install tension devices to keep the cord taut.
Yeah, Toddlers, They can very easily be playing with them and all of a sudden the next thing you know the toddler is being strangled by the cord. This is to be noticed. thanks.
Yes, window cords are something parents of young children should be aware of. Parents are devastated if they lose a child this way. I fixed the cords in my daughter’s house when I visited so they wouldn’t be dangerous. It pays to be safe and careful.
Rita