Home improvements and adding nice touches to the family home, seem to be at the top of every home owners list of things to do around this time of year. Usually, what a person is looking for is to add elegance, style and character to their home before family and friends visit to celebrate the holidays.
Surprisingly, one of the best-selling products people buy at this time of year is curtains or blinds. The reason for this is curtains can change the entire mood of the room, while blinds can control the natural lighting entering the room. This is important as natural sunlight is at a minimum at this time of year.
If you have young children, and are looking to purchase curtains or blinds, we strongly encourage you to take safety into account. It’s important to choose products that have safety features or products that safety devices can be easily attached, especially when it comes to blinds.
Every year, there are a countless number of blinds related injuries in the UK and Ireland. To add to this, since 2009, there have been twelve deaths in the UK and three in Ireland. This number of deaths is remarkable when you think they could have been so easily prevented.
Blinds safety has become such a worrying issue, major organisations like the ROSPA (The Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents) have even campaigned to prevent blind cord accidents. In 2012, The Blind Cord Safety campaign was initiated.
Below is a list of points that if you abide by will ensure your child’s safety:
- Simply put, try to choose blinds that don’t have a cord, especially in a child’s room.
- Tie up cords, there are a number of ways to do so: ties, clips and cord tidies are highly recommended.
- Do not hang toys or objects that could be a hazard on the cot or bed.
- Avoid pacing a child's cot, bed, playpen or highchair near a window
- Pull cords should be kept short so out of reach to the child.
- Be careful of drawstring bags, do not put them in any room your child spends time in, it’s very easy for them to fit their head through the loop.
- If all else fails ask the supplier for a safety device that fits your blind.
There is a lot of information out there that will ensure the safety of your child regarding shutters, blinds and curtains. Our advice is simple, make use of it.
Bio: Olan Ahern works on behalf of MyBlinds.ie, an Irish owned company who provide a wide range of products from shutters to blinds to awnings around Ireland.
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