The Window Covering Manufacturers Association announces historic new window covering safety standard, strengthening window covering safety:

“Window Covering Manufacturers Association (WCMA) announced today the approval of a new window covering safety standard by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) that will require a vast majority of window covering products sold in the United States and Canada to be cordless or have inaccessible or short cords.  The new safety standard, ANSI/WCMA A100.1-2018, strengthens window-covering safety by requiring that all stock products sold in stores and online—which account for more than 80 percent of all window covering products sold in the U.S. and Canada—to be cordless or have inaccessible cords.

There are two unwritten rules in the parent-child relationship: Children will play with and around things they are not supposed to, and parents must do their best to keep their children from getting into danger.

As a help to parents, Budget Blinds encourages parents to look for hidden hazards around window areas, particularly the window cords.

While nothing can replace the careful watch of a loving parent or caregiver, we encourage parents of infants and toddlers to opt for cordless or motorized treatments to eliminate the hazards posed by dangling window cords.

Corded window treatments can pose entanglement and strangulation hazard to small children and pets. The Consumer Products Safety Commission has received reports of nearly 200 strangulation deaths involving window covering cords and chains from 1991-2000. Nearly 10 percent of these deaths involved the inner cords, which run through horizontal blinds.

Budget Blinds encourages new parents to replace window treatments featuring looped cords or treatments manufactured before 2001 with cordless or motorized options to minimize strangulation hazards.

Window treatments manufactured after 2001 have updated safety features like breakaway tassels and inner cord stops.

 

Budget Blinds offers these seven tips to families with young children:

1. Keep all cords out of reach from small children and pets.
2. If your window treatments were purchased before 2001, or you don’t know when they were purchased, it’s a good idea to replace them with updated treatments with enhanced safety features, such as: breakaway tassels, inner-cord stops, retractable pull cords, cordless operation and motorization.
3. If you move to a new home, ask when the window treatments were purchased and look for safety features like breakaway tassels, cord cleats and cordless operation.
4. Secure all pull cords out of reach by using a permanent cord cleat.
5. Retrofit kits are available to enhance the safety of looped pull cord window treatments.
6. Place cribs and other low-standing furniture (beds, bookshelves, toy boxes, chairs, etc.) away from windows to prevent young ones from accidentally tumbling from windows.
7. Install window guards. Don’t rely on screens designed to keep bugs out to keep children and pets in.

I offer consumers convenient, free in-home consultations, so busy parents-to-be need not shop from store to store to find the right cordless or motorized window treatments. 

Parents don’t have to sacrifice style for safety! We have a variety of options for families to consider.

Thank you,

Pamela Brown