Child Safe Blinds

Stitched blinds are not only beautiful but every chain is made to UK legislation. In the UK, the child safety legislation for blinds is governed by the British Standards Institution (BSI) and the Make it Safe campaign. The legislation requires that all new blinds sold in the UK must be designed and manufactured to be safe for children and must comply with the European standard EN13120. They’ll be made to the correct length, and by design will disconnect when pressure is applied. By legislation they have to give at 6kg so a heavy tug on a heavy blind can disconnect the chain - - - but don’t worry, if this happens, get in touch and we can show you how to put it back in place.

By law, all blinds with chains need to be secured with a child safety device or hook to keep the controls taut and the chain has to end at least 1.5m from the floor. Chains that are too long, or not secured properly can pose a risk of strangulation, so we make sure that we supply all of our blinds with the right components so that this can be avoided.

It’s not possible to customise cords on blinds to make them safer because the regulations are very specific on what is considered safe and what is not. The requirement of cordless blinds or blinds with inaccessible cords, as well as strict guidelines for the design, materials and testing of the safety devices, are specified in the standard. Customising cords would mean creating blinds that are not compliant with the standard and therefore not safe for children.

There are a couple of things you can do to make sure that your home is extra safe…

• Keep any furniture that can be climbed on (beds, chest of drawers, chairs etc) away from your windows
• Use our measuring guide to help us calculate the safest height for your blind controls
• If you need any more information, please visit the Make It Safe website www.makeitsafe.org.uk