Child Safety & Blinds

Keeping Children Safe Around Blinds

There are many child safety hazards in the everyday family home. Some are preventable only by paying strict attention to your children, others can be avoided by taking proper safety procedures. Sadly there can be a lingering danger in the home that took the lives of 6 children in the UK/Ireland in 2010.

So what is this household killer? Medications or cleaning products; or toys with ignored choking hazards? The answer will surprise you. It is the strangulation risk associated with cords on household window blinds.This can be very easily prevented by fitting a child safety device when installing your blinds. For this reason we send a child safety device with all of our blinds free of charge. Likewise you can fit a safety device to an existing blind just as easily and we are happy to supply these for you. Your blind will come with one or more of the following devices depending on which types of blinds you order:



We also strive to offer products which have been developed specifically for this problem such as our range of cordless roller blinds which are spring loaded & retract using the tension within the spring as opposed to you manually pulling a chain.

The BBSA (British Blind & Shutter Association) has compiled a leaflet stating safety procedures that can be taken in preventing the unnecessary, negligent deaths of children by the cords on window blinds. The leaflet states that cords should be kept out of reach at all times with a device designed for such purposes. The BBSA leaflet also includes different styles of blinds a family can purchase that do not pose these safety risks. You can find this leaflet on the BBSA website. There is also some more practical information and a video explaining how to make your blinds child safe at www.makeitsafe.org.uk

Remember, ultimately the prevention of accidents surrounding household items is in the hands of the child’s guardian(s). With the proper steps and measures being taken; accidents are far less likely to occur, with fewer tragedies claiming innocent, young lives.

Installation Height

As standard, we will supply a chain operated roller blind with a chain drop of 1 metre.

If you do require a longer length chain, we can provide this, but in order to do so, we need to take an installation height from you to comply with child safety legislation. These do need to reach a length which is at least 150cm from the floor.

An installation height is the height from the floor, to the very top of the window where the blind will be fitted.

If you require the chain to be lower than this, it can be made to reach 60cm from the floor, but only when supplied with a clear child safe breakaway in the chain.

Spring Acorn Pull

As standard, we will supply a spring loaded blind with a wooden acorn with a length of 10cm, if an acorn pull has been added onto the order.

If you require a pull longer than this, to comply with child safety legislation, we can only supply a pull with a maximum length of 20cm.

Breakaway Connector & Tensioning Device

These safety features are used in our chain operated products, such as:

• Chain operated roller blinds
• Chain operated roman blinds
• Chain operated vertical blinds

Cord Cleat & Cord Consolidator

These safety features are used in our pull operated products, such as:

• Classic bottom up blinds