Health

Blinds Recall: CPSC Announces Record Blinds/Roman Shade Recall

by Jordan Yerman | December 15, 2009 at 07:50 am

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The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC) has announced a recall on Roman shades and roll-up blinds. The voluntary blinds recall affects over 25 million units. According to CPSC, five children have been strangled to death and 16 have been injured by the cords attached to Roman shades since 2006. This is one of the largest product recalls in CPSC history.

The manufacturers affected by the recall include:

If you have Roman shades or roll-up blinds in your home, call the store from which you purchased them to find out if you're eligible for a replacement or cord safety kit.

While no company can legally risk lawsuits on such a massive scale, what level of responsibility lies with the parents to keep their kids from messing with the blinds, or to keep things like cords and cables out of the reach of infants and toddlers? Isn't that what "child-proofing" a house means?

Strangulations can occur when a child places his/her neck between the exposed inner cord and the fabric on the backside of the shade or when a child pulls the cord out and wraps it around his/her neck. In addition, these shades have a continuous looped bead chain that when not attached to the wall or floor, hangs loosely by the shade, posing a strangulation hazard to children.

More on the safety kit, which you can get for free via windowcoverings.org or by calling 800.506.4636:

The kit will provide a device for roll-up blinds that will force the cord to separate into 2 pieces if a force equal to a baby's head is applied. The CPSC said the cord cannot be eliminated from the design of the roll-up treatment because it would strip its functionality.