Important News From WCSC: Window Cord Safety Important For Toddlers Too.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 2003

While many parents and caregivers know about the potential dangers window cords can pose to infants, many are unaware that toddlers and young children also can be at risk.

Since 2000, nearly 40 percent of window-cord strangulations reported to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission have involved children between the ages of 3 and 6. While cord hazards involving infants are almost always due to placement of a crib or playpen near a window, toddlers frequently become entangled in window cords while climbing furniture to look out a window.

"Toddlers are naturally active and curious, which is why it is so important to restrict access to windows and to make sure window cords are secured up and away from reach," explains Carolynn Jennings, Deputy Director with the Window Covering Safety Council (WCSC). Since 1995, the Council has provided consumers with free window cord safety repair kits through their toll-free hotline at 1-800-506-4636.

Jennings said parents should adhere to the following safety rules to eliminate or severely reduce a toddler's access to windows and cords:

- Move all furniture, cribs and climbable items as far away from windows as possible, preferably against another wall.

- Secure all pull-cords out of reach by using a cleat or permanent tie-down device.

- Install cord stops on horizontal blinds and mini-blinds to prevent inner-cord access.

- Eliminate looped pull-cords on older (pre-1995) mini-blinds and shades by cutting the loop and attaching safety tassels to the pull-cord ends.

Additional information and illustrations of window cord hazards and appropriate methods of safety repair can be found at www.windowcoverings.org.