Check your blind cords

In the late 60s I worked with a person who had twin boys. One was strangled and died by a blind cord.

Dont forget the dangers of new style t.v's that tip easily, they should be connected to the wall, same as lightweight bookcases,drawers etc most come with a fixing but Grandparents dont tend to use them. We all get a bit lazy about cleaning agents, razors etc being within the reach of little hands maybe we should all do a pre Christmas check if we have any little people visiting over the festive period.

Our's need replacing but I need some new vertical blind strips as they are years old. So far when the little boys come to my house there are usually lots of grown ups about. If only to stop toddler from going base over tip down the stairs.

Yes we recently had new blinds and the fitter told us the same as you Greyduster. I'm not sure what the difference is but I took his word for it.

The family who lived here before us had small children and all their blackout blinds had safety snap open links. We have just had new roller blinds fitted. In our conservatory and they, similarly, have safety links in them. The fitter told us it is a legal requirement - not sure if it's right or not but if it isn't it ought to be.

When we arrived here in our new bungalow we found lots of blinds - roman and roller and horizontally slatted. Some have two cords (for opening and for altering the angle of the slats). We spent a long time child-proofing them all, but today I noticed another I had missed. I noticed that a nursery class I visited did not have the safety devices - I did point it out to them, but do not know whether they have done anything about it.

I looked it all up - the oldest child who has been killed by a blind cord was 6. So sad.

Sadly there have been several children who have died due to this and the warnings have been repeated for a couple of years now. Unfortunatley the message is not getting through. I heard of a child just recently who had a near death experience.
It's always good to bring these things to peoples attention.
I only have one blind in the kitchen and that's inexcessable as the window is above the sink with cupboards under.

Can you get those snap-open links to retrofit to old blind cords?

Mine have two separate cords because of the strangling danger, one of them going horizontally across the top before turning down to dangle beside the other one at one side. If you don't get an equal grip on both when you pull, the blind goes all diagonal, and the ends get twisted round each other and tangle. Two of them are wider and even have three cords.

Ours have a link that snaps open at the least pressure. The DGSs aren't the problem but the cat has snapped it a few times. It works well.