child safety

Ball Hill Blinds are proud to be members of the British Blind and Shutter Associations ‘Make it Safe Campaign’.

Since 2009 the BBSA has worked tirelessly to educate consumers about window blinds with cords or chains which could form a hazardous loop and its ‘make it safe’ campaign is endorsed by the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) and Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

BBSA’s ‘make it safe’ urges parents, grandparents and carers to :

• Examine every blind in the home, especially in children’s bedrooms. If any have a looped control chain or cord, then make sure there is a safety device to keep the cord or chain securely out of the reach of babies and young children. These safety devices are low-cost and are easy to retrofit, so you do not have to wait until you replace a blind to improve its safety.

• Do not place your child’s cot, bed, highchair or playpen near to a window blind – remember children love to climb.

• When buying a new blind always look for one that is inherently safe and does not contain cords or chains (for example a spring operated roller blind), especially for children’s bedrooms.

• If fitting blinds yourself, please make sure that you follow the installation instructions carefully and make sure any safety devices supplied are correctly installed.

• Do not tie cords or chains together. Make sure cords or chains do not twist and create a loop.

There are extensive ranges of products that are safe by design, meaning that they do not use operating cords or chains or have concealed or tensioned cords We strongly recommend that these products are always considered first when you are buying new blinds for homes, offices and public buildings.

If you require blinds that have operating cords or chains please note that the regulations will mean cord and chain lengths are determined by the European standard, and where a safety device is needed we will have to install the device, by law.

Making existing blinds safer…

There are a range of safety devices which have been tested to the mandatory standards and can help to make existing blinds safer. There are options for virtually every style of blind so you do not have to wait until you change your blind to make it safer.

The regulations are now in force and they place a legal responsibility on all suppliers and professional installers to:

• Provide safety devices to reduce the risk of any cords or chains forming a hazardous loop.

• Test all safety critical items of internal blinds.

• Test blinds using safety devices.

• Observe maximum cord and chain lengths.

• Provide specific warnings and instructions.

• Provide information on packaging and at point of sale.

• Fit safety devices when professionally installing blinds.

Which blinds need to be compliant ? All internal window blinds need to be compliant with the child safety requirements of BS EN 13120:2009+A1:2014, some blinds (e.g. Intu, Wand operated Vertical Blinds, Motorised, Perfect Fit, Spring Roller Blinds etc.) are deemed to satisfy the standard as they have no hazardous looped cords or chains by design.

Who are the regulations trying to protect ? Children between the ages of 0 – 42 months are the most at risk.

Where do the regulations apply ? The regulations apply to all premises where children aged between 0 – 42 months are likely to be present. This means all domestic dwellings (houses, flats, bungalows etc.) and most commercial premises (shops, offices etc.) some commercial premises are exempt if they can show that children will not have access or visit (factory floors, industrial sites etc).