Child safety and blind cords

What the rules actually say

There is no single "blind cord regulation", whatever you read elsewhere. It comes in two parts, and it is worth knowing which is which.

Since 28 February 2014, every internal blind supplied and installed in the UK has had to meet BS EN 13120:2009+A1:2014, the British Standard for internal blinds. It limits cord and chain lengths, requires a safety device wherever a cord or chain could form a loop, sets out how those devices are tested, and requires the warnings and instructions that come with the blind.

The standard sits underneath the General Product Safety Regulations 2005, which put a legal duty on a firm that supplies and installs a product like this to supply only safe products. BS EN 13120 is how that duty is measured for a blind.

It applies in all homes, in public buildings, and in the parts of commercial buildings where very young children are likely to be about.

Why it matters

Nine children died from blind cord strangulation in the UK between April 2019 and March 2022. RoSPA is aware of at least 33 deaths in the twenty years before that. A small child can lose consciousness in seconds. Those figures come from RoSPA. We quote them; we do not speak for them.

The numbers we fit to

These are the figures set out in the standard. They are what a proper fit looks like, and they are the part most blind websites leave out.

Blind cord safety measurements from BS EN 13120:2009+A1:2014

Pull cords	Never fitted less than 1.5 m from the floor. Where the cords still reach lower than that, a cord accumulation device goes on, at least 1.5 m up and as near to the headrail as the blind allows.
Looped cords and chains	The tensioning device is screwed down as far from the headrail as the drop allows, and at least 1.5 m from the floor.
Breakaway connectors	Used where the loop does not run the whole way through the mechanism, with the cord or chain at least 0.6 m from the floor. They come apart under pressure rather than holding.
Cord stops	As close to the headrail as they will sit, and never more than 50 mm from it, measured with the blind let all the way down.

Blinds with no cord or chain at all

The surest way to deal with a hazard is to take it away. These four have no operating loop to make safe in the first place. Where a cot or a toddler's bed sits under the window, they are the ones we show you first.

• Senses roller blinds. Built around a slow-rise mechanism. You take the bottom of the blind up or down by hand and it stays where you put it. There is no chain and no looped cord anywhere on it.
• Perfect Fit blinds. Worked by moving the bottom bar up and down. The frame hides the guide wires completely, so there is nothing hanging off the blind at any point.
• Monowand vertical blinds. One wand does both jobs: twist it to turn the louvres, pull it to draw them back. It replaces the chain and the cord, and the bottom weights are sewn in rather than chained together.
• Spring roller blinds. A standard roller without the chain. A spring-loaded mechanism takes the blind back up, so the looped cord a normal roller uses is not there to worry about.

Plantation shutters have nothing hanging off them either. You tilt the louvres with your fingers and swing the panels open like a little door, so there is no cord and no chain anywhere near a cot. They are our biggest seller and worth a look on a child's window — see plantation shutters.

How we sort it on the visit

Safety gets decided at the survey, not at the end. The blind you choose, where it goes and who uses the room are all settled before anything is ordered. That is the point at which a blind is made safe, and the bloke who decides where the cleat goes is the bloke who puts the screw in the wall.

1. We look at the room first. Where the window sits, who uses the room, and whether there is a cot, a bed or a sofa near it. If a small child sleeps or plays in there, we will steer you towards something with no cord or chain on it at all.
2. We agree the safety devices before you order. If the blind you want does use a cord or a chain, we tell you which device it needs and exactly where it will go, and we agree that with you before the order is placed.
3. We fit them, and show you. Devices fitted securely, warning labels left on the blind, instructions left with you, and we show you how the blind and its safety devices work before we leave.

Making a blind you already have safer

Plenty of blinds in British homes were made before the 2014 rules and have no safety features on them at all. It does not matter who fitted yours. Point them out while we are in the house and we will have a proper look.

• A cleat. The simplest answer. It is screwed to the wall near the operating side of the blind, at least 1.5 m from the floor. When the blind is not being worked the cord winds round it in a figure of eight, so nothing hangs free.
• A cord tidy or tensioner. The cord or chain is held permanently between the walls of the device, which is fixed down so the loop can never dangle. The cord still runs through it freely, so the blind works exactly as it did.
• A breakaway chain connector. Mostly for roller blinds. It joins the two halves of the operating chain for everyday use, then snaps apart under any real pressure, leaving two loose ends instead of a loop that holds.

A device makes an old blind safer, not new. Whether a blind is built to the current standard is decided when it is made, so fitting a cleat or a connector afterwards improves it rather than bringing it up to standard. If a pre-2014 blind hangs in a child's bedroom, replacing it is the better answer, and we will say so.

Questions we get asked

What people pick when the cords are the worry

We carry samples in the van, so you can work one with your own hands before you pick.

We have been putting blinds up round Tyldesley, Atherton, Leigh, Astley, Boothstown, Worsley, Walkden and Bolton since 1983.