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Business and employment › Consumer Protection › Corded blind safety › Consultation document: Options to address the safety risks of corded window coverings ... › Appendix 3 – Table summarising overseas standards

Appendix 3 – Table summarising overseas standards

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New Zealand

Standard Scope Requirements/Specifications Death rates per 100,000 children, per year
None N/A N/A 0.12 (2012 to 2021)*

*Based on information provided by Coronial Services of New Zealand.

Australia

Standard Scope Requirements/Specifications Death rates per 100,000 children, per year
Mandatory requirements for supply of corded window coverings (CWC):

Trade Practices (Consumer Product Safety Standard - Corded Internal Window Coverings) Regulations 2010(external link) — Australian Federal Register of Legislation

Mandatory requirements for installation of CWC:

Competition and Consumer (Corded Internal Window Coverings) Safety Standard 2014(external link) — Australian Federal Register of Legislation		 All window coverings that can be used inside a building and have a cord. This includes curtains, blinds and fittings used with a window covering such as a traverse rod or track. The supply safety standard sets out the supply of a CWC must be accompanied by:
  • Warning labels, where ‘warning’ is capitalised and at least 5 mm high, and other text at least 1.5 mm high, on retail packaging and the cord for the covering.
  • Installation instructions setting out the minimum requirements for how a CWC must be installed (see the installation safety instructions), and practical information about how to install the CWC to meet these requirements.*
  • Any components specified in the installation instructions as necessary for cord safety requirements.
The installation safety standard sets out that CWC must be installed to ensure:

A loose cord cannot form a loop 220 mm or longer at a height less than 1,600 mm above the floor.

No part of the cord guide can be installed lower than 1,600 mm above the floor unless:
  • the cord guide will remain firmly attached to a wall or other structure when subject to a force of 70N for ten seconds and
  • the cord is installed to prevent the formation of a loop 220 mm or longer.
A cleat used to secure a cord will be at least 1,600 mm above floor level.		 0.16**
(2010 to 2020)

*Including a statement that a cord guide may be installed lower than 1,600 mm above floor level if the cord is sufficiently secured or tensioned to prevent a loop 220 mm or longer from being formed; and a statement that if a cord guide is installed lower than 1,600 mm above floor level it must be designed to prevent a child from being able to remove the cord; and a statement that if a cleat is used to secure the cord it must be at least 1,600 mm above floor level because a child is capable of unwinding a cord from a cleat.

**Corded Blind Safety report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, 2022 [PDF, 1.2 MB]

Canada

Standard Scope Requirements/Specifications Death rates per 100,000 children, per year
Mandatory requirements for the supply and installation of CWC:

Corded Window Coverings Regulations 2019(external link) — Justice Laws Website		 Interior window coverings that are equipped with at least one “cord”. “Cord” includes a band, rope, strap, string, chain, or any other component or combination of components that is capable of folding in every direction.

Includes all types of cords (operating cords, tilt cords, inner lift cords, etc.).		 The Corded Window Coverings Regulations state the following requirements:

No accessible cord (or combination of cords, where they are in reach of one another and can be connected) may exceed 22 cm in length, and no loop 44 cm in circumference, on application of up to 35 N (7.8 lb) of pull force in any direction.

Warning labels must:
  • state prescribed information about the danger of the product,
  • be in a sans serif font, where ‘warning’ is capitalised and at least 5 mm high, and other text at least 2.5 mm high, in a colour contrasting against the background,
  • remain legible and prominent throughout the life of the product, and
  • For information required to be on the covering, indelibly printed on the covering or a label permanently affixed to it.
Instructions must be supplied with the corded window covering which set out:
  • how to assemble the covering, and a quantitative list of its parts if not fully assembled,
  • how to install it, and
  • how to operate it.
 0.04
(2010 to 2021)  

*Information provided directly by Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada/Government of Canada.

United States of America

Standard Scope Requirements/Specifications Death rates per 100,000 children, per year
Mandatory requirements for the supply and installation of CWC:

No mandatory national standard. However, in January 2022, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that, if completed, will regulate custom window coverings.*

Industry consensus standard for stock corded coverings:

WCMA (Window Covering Manufacturers Association) Safety Standard for Corded Window Coverings [ANSI/WCMA A100.1-2014] (WCMA Safety Standard).  		 Ready-made (stock) interior corded window covering products including, but not limited to: cellular shades, horizontal blinds, pleated shades, roll-up style blinds, roller shades, Roman style shades, traverse rods and vertical blinds.

Excludes custom-made coverings.		 The WCMA Safety Standard sets out standards for:
  • durability and performance testing of the tension/hold down devices,
  • anchoring,
  • use instructions and warnings,
  • warning labels and pictograms on the outside of stock packaging and merchandising materials,
  • tests for cord accessibility, 
  • hazardous loop testing
  • roll-up style shade performance, and
  • durability testing of all safety devices.
 Not available. The U.S. CPSC’s website states about nine children aged 5 or younger pass away every year, on average.

CPSC.gov(external link)

*Safety Standard for Operating Cords on Custom Window Coverings(external link) — Federal Register

European Union

Standard Scope Requirements/Specifications Death rates per 100,000 children, per year
Mandatory requirements for the supply and installation of corded window coverings:

European Commission Decision 2011/477/EU (the Commission Decision)(external link) — Official Journal of the European Union

European Standards meeting the above mandatory requirements (published in the Official Journal of the European Union)*:
  • EN 16433:2014 ‘Internal blinds — Protection from strangulation hazards — Test methods’,       
  • EN 16434:2014 ‘Internal blinds — Protection from strangulation hazards — Requirements and test methods for safety devices’, and
  • EN 13120:2009+A1:2014 ‘Internal blinds — Performance requirements including safety’ (cl 8.2 and cl 15).  
 All internal blinds or devices used for internal blinds, whatever their design and the nature of the materials used.

This includes:
  • draperies, insect screens and blinds in seal-glazed units, if operated with cords, chains and ball-chains which are accessible and form a hazardous loop.
  • products operated manually, with or without compensating springs, or by means of electric motors (power operated products).
In the absence of other product standards for draperies, test methods specified in the internal blind standards may be used for such products.		 The Commission Decision sets out high-level minimum requirements for internal blinds:
  • cords or similar shall not form a hazardous loop
  • if the design of the product does not eliminate the risk of a hazardous loop, it should be provided with appropriate safety devices
  • safety devices should be provided as an integral part of the product
  • non-integral safety devices (such as cleats) should be preinstalled on the operating cord of the covering
  • a warning should be conspicuously displayed on the safety device
  • the safety device should be resistant to operation by young children (0-42 months) and should not pose any other risks of physical injuries to children, as well as be resistant to wear and tear, weather, and aging
  • the safety device should not contain small parts which pose risk of internal asphyxiation to children.
The Commission Decision sets out minimum information requirements for warning labels:
  • labels should be provided in a clear and conspicuous way
  • labels should be present at point of sale, on the package, on the product and in the information for use
  • labels should contain information about the proven risks corded blinds pose for the strangulation of young children, and how to reduce this risk.  
 No EU-wide estimates available

*Comission decision – European standards EN 16433:2014 and EN 16434:2014 [PDF 403KB](external link) — Official Journal of the European Union 

United Kingdom

Standard Scope Requirements/Specifications Death rates per 100,000 children, per year
Mandatory requirements for the supply and installation of CWC:

BS EN 13120:2009+A1:2014 – Internal blinds – Performance requirements including safety.  		 Blinds with pull cords and accumulation devices, looped cords with tensioning devices, blinds with looped cords and break-away devices, Roman blind lift cords. For blinds with pull cords and accumulation devices or looped cords with tensioning devices:
  • Accumulation and tensioning devices must be installed a minimum of 1.5 metres above the floor.
  • Accumulation devices are required for any cords with the lowest point less than 1.5 metres from the floor.
For blinds with looped cords and a break-away device, the lowest point of the loop must be at least 60 mm above the floor.

For Roman blind lift cords, if the maximum distance between two consecutive attachment/retention points of inner cords is less than or equal to 200 mm, a break-away system is probably not required.		 0.08*
(2010 to 2015)

*Corded Blind Safety report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, 2022 [PDF, 1.2 MB]

< Appendix 2 – Examples of safety devices | Main page >

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