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admin
Admin
24 Posts
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 Posted -
17/02/2010
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13:53
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A Scottish MP has demanded action to ban looped cords on curtains and blinds after two young children died in almost identical accidents just five days apart.
Harrison Joyce, three, died on February 4 after becoming entangled in a looped cord at his home in Lichfield, Staffordshire.
A few days later and only 14 miles away, 16-month-old Lillian Bagnall-Lambe, from Stafford, was killed in similar circumstances.
Gordon Banks, MP for Ochil and South Perthshire, has been campaigning to improve safety since the death of Muireann McLaughlin, a two-year-old from Menstrie, Clackmannanshire who was hanged by the cord of a window blind two years ago.
After a fatal accident inquiry into Muireann’s death, Sheriff David Mackie recommended the UK follow the lead of the US and Australia and consider a blanket ban on production of the particular type of cord involved.
However, Mr Banks said yesterday that no action had been taken. He said: “It is unacceptable that government refuses to take on board and respond formally to Sheriff Mackie’s recommendations.
“Government and the industry need to do an awful lot more and come up with a design solution that operates blinds without the need for cords.“
As long as cords remain in the products there will be deaths – it doesn’t matter how vigilant people are or how flippant some people think the problem is.”
Muireann had tried to climb on to a box to wave goodbye to her grandmother from the window of her house when she slipped and hit her head on the window sill on February 5, 2008. As she fell, she became entangled in the loop cord of a roller blind and was strangled to death.
After the FAI, Sheriff Mackie said that since 1990 there had been one death a year caused by the hanging cords, but that near deaths were nearly 20 times that rate, with many more cases unreported.
He made several recommendations to improve safety and increase awareness of the dangers.
Mr Banks, who was approached by Mr and Mrs McLaughlin for help in their campaign to have the cords banned, has submitted an early day motion in parliament calling for the Government to “engage in a constructive and meaningful manner on this life-and-death issue”. Some 26 MPs have signed his motion.
Mr Banks has also asked Glasgow University students to devise a blind without looped cords and he hopes their designs can be taken to the British Blind and Shutter Association and developed by manufacturers.
Following the latest accidents, Harrison Joyce’s family have launched their own campaign for Harrison’s Law, hoping to ban the sale of looped cords on curtains and blinds in the UK.
The family said: “He was a very special and beautiful baby who brought so much love and joy into our lives.“
Sadly Harrison was tragically taken from us on February 4, 2010. Our lives will never be the same.
”The family set up a website, www.harrisonslaw.co.uk, which aims to raise awareness of the potential danger and attract support for their campaign.
They wrote: “This website is to make every parent, guardian and carer aware of the potential and proven dangers of what would appear to be fairly innocuous looped window blinds that appear in thousands of UK homes, which inevitably put young lives at risk of strangulation.”
A spokeswoman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: “We have called on the industry for a number of years to voluntarily address the issue and we welcome what they are trying to do.“
They are investigating design modification and putting resources into raising awareness into the safety issue. We hope that new European standards introduced last year which relate to blinds will lead to a change in the products on the market.
“If we don’t see a change then we would urge that serious consideration is given to how the issue could be addressed through regulation.”
Inquests into the deaths of Harrison and Lillian will be held by the South Staffordshire coroner.
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Blind cords ban is urged after toddler deaths
