It’s not just our homes that need to be childproof. Public and commercial environments such as schools, nurseries, libraries, leisure centres, banks, government offices and reception areas to name a few, need to take into consideration the risk involved with having children on the premises. Children are curious by nature and within a blink of an eye can be off exploring. While most of the time nothing untoward happens, sometimes things can go tragically wrong. 

Blinds with cords are commonly used in commercial and public settings and although they look harmless, they have in fact a caused 35 deaths since 2001 in the UK from children getting the cords looped around their necks.  As mentioned on the British Blinds and Shutters ‘Make it Safe’ website “if you have an environment where children under the age of 42 months are present or likely to have access, you must install blinds that are compliant with the child safety requirements of BS EN 13120:2009+A1:2014. The EU Decision makes it clear that this applies to all public buildings and the publicly accessible areas of commercial buildings”.

If you have corded blinds in your setting, you need to make sure they are safe and in line with government guidelines. Below are some safety features that can use used on various types of blinds to make the cord operating system safer.

devices

P-clip - The clip is secured to the wall with the roller blind chain secured in the clip.  The chain is kept tight to the wall so there is no free hanging loop.

Breakaway chains - A connector that allows a chain to break apart when under pressure.

Chain tidy - Secured to the wall with the roller blind chain secured in the chain tidy.  The chain is kept tight to the wall so there is no free hanging loop.

Cleats - Secures loose cords to the wall to keep them tidy and out of reach of young children.

Safety tassel - Will group together multiple cords and will break away if reasonable force is put upon it

All of Yewdale’s blinds are fully compliant with BS EN 13120:2009+A1:2014 and confirmed as 'safe by design'. Get in touch to find out more about our products and get a quotation for your next commercial blind installation project. You can also check out the video below from British Blinds and Shutters Association’s Make it Safe campaign.

The BBSA works with UK Government, Trading Standards and safety organisations such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and the Child Accident Prevention Trust to ensure that the industry and those who use internal window blinds are given expert and appropriate advice and own the rights to the video above.