Does Your Hotel Have This Hidden Hazard?
Does your hotel have a hidden hazard right in front of your face, or rather, your window? Window blind cords continue to kill children, decades after safety concerns about the risk of accidental strangulation has been recognized. Window cords don’t need to be old or broken to pose a risk. The existing model of corded window blinds is still hazardous, and a new ban on corded window blinds is in the works.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission offers startling statistics. A child aged seven months to ten years old dies, on average, every month, due to inadvertent cord strangulation. Since 1995, more than 17,000 children were injured from window blinds. And yet, the safety hazard remains in many homes and hotels.
The cords that pose a risk don’t discriminate. Different types all have potential to loop around a child’s neck and cause fatal strangulation, including:
- Traditional pull cords
- Looped bead chains and nylon cords
- Roman shades inner cords
- Cords that raise and lower roll-up blinds
While bead chains and nylon cords can be outfitted with tension devices to keep the cords taut, and cords can be placed high and out of reach of children, the best protection is no window blinds with cords at all. Consider the financial ramifications of a wrongful death lawsuit in the event a child died at your hotel. Making sure that rooms rented out to people with children have cord-free window coverings will both keep kids safe and protect your hotel from a costly tragedy.
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Tyler Grauberger
Associate Underwriter
