Why You Really Need to Check your Blinds

Window blinds can be dangerous.  No, they actually can.  Since 1999, there were 30 deaths involving the cords attached to window blinds.  That doesn’t sound like many over the period of time but they were almost all very small children so the authorities had to act and, in 2005, they brought in regulations that all newly manufactured blinds had to have safety features.  Clearly, that’s good news.  However, how many people, including landlords, have older blinds in their properties?  Even as late as 2017, a blind retailer was prosecuted for selling unsafe blinds.  Read on for the ways blinds can be dangerous and how we can prevent accidents.

What’s the Problem with Blinds?

Dangling things are enticing to small children.  The urge to grab and play with anything that dangles within their reach is very strong.  Older blinds often come with very long dangling looped cords which very small children, with their relatively poor coordination and not quite fully formed, delicate windpipes, have been known to tangle themselves in and strangle themselves with.  Injuries can also happen when children yank the cords and bring the blinds crashing down on top of them.  Even older children and vulnerable adults have hurt themselves or had near misses from messing about with blind cords and chains.

What Can We do About it?

If you have blinds in your home or in properties you let out, go and have a look at them.  Modern safe blinds of any kinds whether they be Venetian, roller, vertical, pleated, honeycomb, Austrian/festoon, panel, roll-up, plantation shutters or roman shades, should not have long hanging looped cords or chains.  Plastic hooks to tie up cords are only a few pounds from a local hardware or DIY shop and are very easy to screw into the window frame or wall so children and others who might be tempted to tug on or play with a dangling cord or chain are kept safe.  Or you could replace older unsafe blinds with new safe ones.

Pets and Blinds

Anyone with pets, particularly cats, will know that blinds with anything dangling are probably more at risk from the pet than the pet is from the blinds.  Either way, keeping dangling cords tied up neatly or replacing them will eliminate the risk of a pet throttling themselves, pulling the blinds down on top of themselves or just wrecking the place.

Accidents with blinds are very rare so don’t worry too much but they do happen so it is worth checking and taking care of those dangerous dangling cords, particularly the looped ones.  If you’re unsure about the best way to make your blinds, please feel free to speak to us for advice.  We always advise our landlords on any potential safety issues before letting out their properties.  Call us on 01273 917791 if you would like to speak to us about letting out a property.