Aaron O’Connell

I read an article yesterday where the famous Wall Street Journal criticised the Consumer Product safety Commission of America’s push for safer window blinds.

 In it’s article in the opinion section of yesterday’s paper, the Journal attacked the government’s regulatory power. The headline read “A Rule of Blind Injustice: The new regulatory standard for household products is zero risk”

 The Journal argued that the CPSC’s initiative to “eliminate the hazard” posed to children by window blind cords is a step too far when only “about 12 children a year die in accidents with window blinds”. (more…)

Alice Hutton – Cambridge Newspapers – 26 October 2011

Emily Warner

A toddler has been left brain dead after she accidentally hanged herself from her window blind cord.

It was only by chance that Jamie Warner found his daughter Emily unconscious in her bedroom.

Jamie, 30, went upstairs to talk to his son, James, 4, about making too much noise after the pair had been put to bed, when he discovered the 2-year-old’s seemingly lifeless body in the room next door.

Emily’s family spoke to the News to help stop something similar happening to others.

(more…)

Excerpt from Irish Examiner 7th October 2011 – Arlene Harris

Since 1998, ten Irish toddlers have been strangled by window blind cords. The most recent, Dean Partick Regan Russell, whose inquest was heard last month, once again highlighted the need for stricter safety regulations and a ban for certain types of corded blinds.
But while retail outlets are obliged to comply with European safety standards, many shops are passing off unsafe merchandise to unsuspecting parents.
Aaron O’Connell spent 25 years in the industry and founded a website – www.windowblindsafety.ie – offering vital information on all the latest safety regulations.
“Research has shown that most accidental deaths involving blinds happen in bedrooms to children between 16 and 36 months. Over half of these accidents occur when the chils is around 23 months” he says.
These facts are shocking, but O’Connell says if the Government works in accordance with the manufacturers to make te product safer and enlighten parents to potential dangers, many of these tragic accidents could be avoided.
Before buying blinds, parents should ask the following questions of the retailer:
Does the product meet the safety requirements of EN13120?
Is a warning notice attached?
Is documentation relating to safe installation, use and maintenance provided?
Is a safety device provided and can it be fitted in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions?
Can the supplier demonstrate the safety device?

Making existing blinds safe:
Keep all cords and chains out of reach of children – ending at least 1.5m above the ground.
Install relevant safety devices
Don’t tie cords together
Move furniture away from windows with cord or chain operated blinds.
The inner cords in venetian and pleated blinds and the rear cords in roman blinds are also strangulation risk so fit appropriate safety devices.
For more advice visit www.windowblindsafety.ie

27 September 2011

National Consumer Agency Notice

These blinds pose a risk of strangulation as the cord on the blinds is longer than the permitted levels.

The product was sold in Heatons and Michael Guiney’s stores in Ireland since 2008.

The product in question is a Scallop Edge Roller Blind available in cream, natural and white, in sizes 2ft, 3ft, 4ft, 5ft and 6ft. This is a roller blind with a scallop edge border on the bottom of the blind; the blind is operated by a beaded chain cord.

(more…)

Published: 9:00PM Thursday September 29, 2011 Source: ONE News, New Zealand

Kylie Hayward shows how a roman blind cord strangled her 13 month-old son, Isahn Keenan-Richards

A grieving mother is calling for warnings to be put on curtains after her toddler accidentally hanged himself on a cord.

Thirteen-month-old Isahn Keenan-Richards is one of two young children who have been killed in the past couple of months in freak accidents with blind cords.

His mother Kylie Hayward left him alone in a room for five minutes while she ran a bath for him and his sister Klaudia.

“Him and his sister used to run through the lounge curtains and just play peek-a-boo with each other all of the time. And I never thought anything more of it,” Hayward told TV ONE’s Close Up.

Isahn accidentally hanged himself on the strings at the back of Roman blinds in the room. (more…)

RTE News 23.09.11

The family of a toddler who died after becoming entangled in the cord of a blind has called for all looped cord blinds to be banned.

The family of a Kerry toddler who died after becoming entangled in the cord of a blind has called for all looped cord blinds to be banned.

They were speaking after the inquest into the death of two-year-old Dean Patrick Regan-Russell from Tralee, Co Kerry, who died four days after the incident in January of this year. (more…)