A strong relationship between grandparents and their grandchildren is truly special. Visiting with grandkids is often a joyous and exciting experience, though having a young child under your care always requires a certain level of responsibility along with the fun. Knowing how to look for hidden hazards around the home can be crucial for ensuring safe visits with grandchildren.
At OnderLaw, we take a special interest in raising awareness of the dangers associated with window coverings. The cords used to adjust certain types of blinds and curtains can pose serious risks to curious children who love hands-on interactions to learn about the world around them. While window blind cord strangulation prevention tips for grandparents can help reduce some of these risks, industry reform and increased corporate responsibility are necessary to improve child safety around hazardous window coverings.
It can take mere minutes for a child to suffer substantial, even fatal, injuries from entanglement in window blind cords. The cords can wrap around extremities to the point of cutting off blood circulation, which, in extreme cases, can lead to permanent injuries, scarring, and nerve damage. Even more concerning are cords that can wrap around a child’s neck, which can disrupt oxygen flow and cause brain damage, paralysis, or death while limiting the child’s ability to call out for help.
Unfortunately, it isn’t only the dangling cords on the sides of window coverings that pose a risk. Small cords inside that support the slats and help to open or close them can be equally as deadly. These invisible dangers can entangle a curious child in seconds. For this reason, it’s best to avoid having inner-corded window blinds altogether around young children whenever possible.
Window blind cords tragically take the lives of children every year. Installing cordless window coverings is one of the surest ways to reduce these risks in the home. Where this is not an option, grandparents should ensure the cords are kept as short as possible, certainly out of children’s reach.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has passed federal regulations around window coverings, including a mandate that corded custom and stock window coverings keep these strings below 8 inches in length. When grandparents begin replacing corded window coverings, the advocacy group Parents for Window Blind Safety recommends prioritizing starting with blinds in kids’ bedrooms, playrooms, or other areas they are most likely to spend time.
Unfortunately, many companies prioritize their own profits above the general safety and well-being of the public. As a result, industry changes often don’t come to fruition unless companies are forced to, either by legislative changes or hitting them where it hurts: their bottom line.
Personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits can be necessary for effecting the kind of reform that will keep kids safer, and no law firm in America handles more window-cord wrongful death suits than OnderLaw.
Under Missouri Revised Statutes 537 § 760, anyone in the chain of commerce—including manufacturers, distributors, and retailers—can be held strictly liable for accidental injuries or death caused during the reasonably anticipated use of certain faulty or dangerous products. This can include providers of window coverings that do not abide by industry safety regulations or do not properly warn consumers about the risks associated with even proper use of the product.
As a national leader in window blind cord injury litigation, OnderLaw understands that window blind strangulation prevention tips for grandparents cannot always be enough to ensure children’s safety. When the unthinkable happens, and your grandchild is injured by carelessly designed window coverings, your family deserves accountability from manufacturers and retailers alike. We will fight for your rights with a compassionate and educated approach to get you the justice you deserve. Call today for a free, private consultation with one of our trusted legal professionals.
