Buying a defective product can be at best frustrating and at worst dangerous or fatal. Perhaps the scariest aspect of defective products is that we often don’t know they are defective or dangerous until it is too late.
In the case of dangerous window blinds, however, we have known for decades that they can injure or cause the deaths of young children. Sadly, many blinds still present the same dangers that manufacturers have been warned about for years.
CNN reports that each day, approximately two young children suffer injuries from window blinds. At least one dies each month. They also report that over a 25-year period, almost 17,000 young kids received emergency room treatment for injuries involving window blinds.
What makes blinds so dangerous?
The most frequent cause of injuries are related to the blinds falling onto the child, striking the child or being pulled onto the child. These types of incidents typically do not cause fatal injuries. The most dangerous incidents involving window blinds and young children are cases of entanglement.
Being entangled in the blind cords accounts for nearly 12 percent of child-blind cases. It also caused nearly 255 deaths during the 25 years that span an American Academy of Pediatrics study.
Holding negligent manufacturers accountable
There has been some movement in making blinds safer for kids. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission approved making mandatory standards to remove blind cords that young children can access, but this is still in progress. This year, the Window Covering Manufacturers Association recommended that stock blinds be made with inaccessible cords or without cords.
It is quite possible, however, that these things will take time. Until then, parents of young children need to be very careful if they have window blinds with cords. Young children shouldn’t be left unsupervised around these products, even for a short time. Removing the blinds may be the better option.
If your child suffered an injury from dangerous window blinds, you may want to consider speaking with a lawyer. While this cannot undo what happened, it can pay your medical expenses and it may help prevent similar injuries to other children. Manufacturers need to be held responsible when they create dangerous products.
