Two young children died in almost identical accidents just five days apart in South Staffordshire in February after being entangled in blinds and curtain cords.

These types of chords have been banned from production in the USA following 359 children’s deaths between 1985 and 1995 and campaigns continue for this to happen in the UK.

Harrison Joyce, three, died on February 4 after becoming entangled in a looped cord at his home in Lichfield, Staffordshire.  A few days later and only 14 miles away, 16-month-old Lillian Bagnall-Lambe, from Stafford, was killed in similar circumstances.

A spokeswoman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: “We have called on the industry for a number of years to voluntarily address the issue and we welcome what they are trying to do.“

They are investigating design modification and putting resources into raising awareness into the safety issue. We hope that new European standards introduced last year which relate to blinds will lead to a change in the products on the market.

“If we don’t see a change then we would urge that serious consideration is given to how the issue could be addressed through regulation."

 There are also risks in Venetian style blinds as there is an “inner cord” which threads through the middle of the blinds and can easily be pulled by a child and form the same lethal loop that the pull cord often presents.

There have been deaths in the US where this “inner cord” loop has been the cause of the child’s death and not the pull cord, so we need to highlight this to parents for their child’s safety. Roman Blinds also have “looped” back strings which children have died when they have become entangled in them and asphyxiated.

The deaths often occur when children are put to bed near an accessible window blind. Parents often have the pull cord out of reach, as they know that is a hazard, but had no idea about the inner cord or roman blind design cording being a risk to their child. Also, being in their own cots, the children are unsupervised and have time to investigate the blinds and become entangled without parents being aware until it is too late.

A basic safety tip therefore, is to ensure that a child’s cot is not placed near a window, and if possible, remove this type of product from a child’s bedroom.

Children do not have the maturity to understand that if they lose their footing and become entangled, they need to stand up to release the pressure, they will simply stay in the same position until help arrives which is often too late.

The American Consumer organisation states that:

The CPSC said that since 1991, it has received reports of 130 strangulations involving cords on window blinds.
Of that number, 114 strangulations involve the outer pull cords, and 16 involve the inner cords that hold the blind slats. The victims ranged in age from nine months to 17 months. All the deaths involved children in cribs placed next to windows.
The parents of a little girl who died due to inner cord strangulation stated the following:

We've read before about keeping cribs away from blinds. However, it was more targeted towards the cord on the side. So were not aware at all about the inner cord. And anyone that we've shown to date -- it's been over two years -- about the danger, including pediatricians, they're completely unaware of it and shocked and surprised.