Cords, children and fire: making window coverings safe in a home

Young children can be strangled by window covering cords, quickly and silently. This chapter finds every cord a child could reach and deals with it, cordless first, then covers curtains near heaters and candles and the bedroom window that has to open in a fire.

1. How a cord strangles, and who is at risk Understand

A child does not have to be climbing or playing roughly. A loop of cord, or a long single cord that the child wraps, closes around the neck and the child cannot free themselves. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) says on its cord safety page that this can happen in moments, with an adult nearby, and is often silent. Physical principle

The cords on a window covering

Four kinds of cord are worth naming, because the rules and the fixes differ for each.

• Operating cord (pull cord): the cord you pull to raise, lower or tilt a covering. On many older horizontal blinds it hangs free, often with a tassel at the end.
• Continuous loop: a closed loop of cord or bead chain that you pull hand over hand, common on vertical blinds, roller shades and some Roman shades. A tension device anchors the bottom of the loop to the wall or floor so it stays taut.
• Inner cord: the lift cord that runs through the slats or the back of a shade. On many older blinds a child can pull it out from between the slats to form a loop.
• Cord loop lift: the loops of cord that wrap under a roll-up shade to raise it, on the room side or the back.

A covering is cordless when it has no operating cord: you lift or lower it by hand, with a wand (a rigid rod), or with a motor. The 2022 edition of the industry safety standard, ANSI/WCMA A100.1-2022, counts a motorized product as cordless. Product-specific

What the incident data shows

CPSC staff reviewed incidents for the agency's September 2026 proposed rule and found 73 incidents involving window covering cords from January 2018 through December 2025, all involving children 8 years old and younger. Of 21 pull cord incidents, all on horizontal blinds, 18 were deaths, in children aged 12 months to 4 years. Seven deaths involved continuous loops, in children 2 and 3 years old.

A longer view comes from a children's hospital research center. Its window blinds summary reports almost 17,000 children under 6 treated in U.S. emergency departments for window blind injuries from 1990 through 2015, and 271 deaths over those 26 years, most from cord strangulation. It puts the peak risk at ages 1 to 4, when children can reach cords and do not understand the danger, and says most serious injuries happened while a parent was caring for the child and had left them alone for less than 10 minutes, going to sleep, playing or watching TV.

Inner cords are the hidden part. CPSC's October 2005 release on inner cords counted about 200 strangulation deaths involving window covering cords and chains reported since 1991, at least 20 of them on inner cords, typically children 9 to 20 months old in cribs or playpens within reach of a window covering.

Two things follow, and both shape the rest of this chapter. The child's bed is the most dangerous place for a corded window covering, and a cord that seems out of reach often is not.

2. What is already hanging: cordless first, interim steps until then

CPSC's position is stated plainly: "Cordless window coverings are the only option to eliminate the strangulation hazard." Everything else on its cord safety page is described as reducing the hazard, not removing it. A children's hospital research center says the same in its own words and adds that retrofit fixes can give a false sense of security unless everyone who lives in or visits the home uses them correctly every time (Nationwide Children's).

Replace, in this order

The hospital center's order is to start with the rooms where the child spends the most time, usually bedrooms and living rooms, and replace the rest as you can. It names cordless blinds, blinds with inaccessible cords, shutters, draperies and curtains as cordless options. A curtain on a rod has no cord to strangle with; a curtain with a pull cord on a traverse rod does. Ask the authority

Taking a corded blind down costs nothing and is immediate. A bare window for a week while a cordless shade arrives is a privacy problem with known fixes (the first nights); a corded blind beside a crib is a different order of problem.

CPSC's interim steps

Until a corded covering is replaced, CPSC lists these steps on its cord safety page. They reduce the hazard; they do not eliminate it.

• Move cribs, beds, furniture and toys away from windows and cords, preferably to another wall. Furniture under a window is also how a child reaches the cord and the window itself.
• Make pull cords as short as possible.
• Set the cord stops (small plugs on the lift cords) so they sit within 1 to 2 inches of the head rail when the blind is fully lowered. This limits how far an inner cord can be pulled out.
• Anchor continuous loops to the floor or wall with a tension device, taut but still operable.
• Replace blinds sold before November 2000. CPSC says most of them have inner cords a child can pull into a loop.

The 2005 inner cord release adds two more. Lock the cords in position when you lower a horizontal covering. And do not tie cords or chains together, because the knot makes a new loop; the proposed rule's own incident file includes a death where a cord had been tied up in a loop to keep it above a mattress, and the child still reached it. Ask the authority

A cord cleat (a hook on the wall that a cord is wound around) appears in many older guides. It depends on someone winding the cord up every time, which is the use the hospital center warns about, and products that rely on cleats, breakaways or tie-downs do not qualify for the industry's Best for Kids label (described under Buying).

Retrofit kits

CPSC's cord safety page still points readers to free retrofit kits from the industry's Window Covering Safety Council, and says those kits do not address the dangling pull cord hazard. The council's own retrofit page now says its retrofit kit program has been suspended and that it recommends only cordless products that meet current standards. As of November 8, 2026, treat the kits as unavailable and go to replacement.

Old vinyl miniblinds and lead

A separate, older hazard. In June 1996 CPSC found that some imported non-glossy vinyl miniblinds, from China, Taiwan, Mexico and Indonesia, had lead added to stabilize the plastic, and that sun and heat break the plastic down into lead dust on the slats (CPSC release 96-150). CPSC recommended removing them in homes where children 6 and younger may be present, and said washing does not stop the deterioration. Blinds made without added lead were due on shelves from about July 1, 1996, in cartons marked with words such as "new formulation" or "no lead added". The release has not been withdrawn; it matters only for old imported vinyl miniblinds that are still hanging. The 2022 safety standard caps lead at 100 ppm in a covering's exterior parts that hang 12 in or more below the head rail. Ask the authority

If you rent, the corded or old blinds are the landlord's. What to ask: whether they will replace them with cordless coverings, and, if not, whether you may take them down, store them and put them back at move-out. Get the answer in writing. Hardware and installing covers storing the landlord's blinds and the no-holes options.

3. Buying: the law and the labels, as of November 8, 2026

The rules depend on whether a covering is stock or custom, and the custom rules have changed twice in three years. This section states each rule's status as of November 8, 2026. Before you buy, check the date and the status again; Buying, ordering or making covers the rest of the order.

Stock and custom

The 2022 safety standard defines a stock product as one completely or substantially made before it is distributed and before any specific customer asks for it. It is still stock if the store cuts it to size or it is sold online. A custom product is anything that is not stock: made to order from your measurements. Convention

What is law, what is voluntary, what is proposed

Read the table this way. A stock blind sold in the United States today has to meet the 2018 cord rules by law. A custom blind has to meet only the inner cord and label rules by law. CPSC's 2026 proposal says stock and custom products already substantially comply with the 2022 standard's cord limits, but federal law does not yet require it of custom products. Convention

The 2026 proposal

CPSC published the proposal on September 24, 2026. It would deem these characteristics a substantial product hazard (a defect class that makers, importers and sellers must report to CPSC): accessible free-hanging operating cords longer than 8 inches on custom coverings; exposed continuous loops on custom horizontal blinds, with or without a tension device; exposed continuous loops without a tension device on other custom coverings; missing warnings on continuous loops and single retractable cords; single retractable cords with a stroke longer than 36 inches; and cord loop lifts on stock or custom roll-up shades. The notice proposes that this take effect 30 days after a final rule is published.

Status, as of November 8, 2026: the proposal is open for comment until November 23, 2026, and is not in force. There is no final rule and no extension of the comment period. We do not read the proposal beyond what the notice says. If you are buying after that date, check the Federal Register and regulations.gov for the docket number before relying on this paragraph. Ask the authority

What to ask and what to look for

• Ask whether the product is stock or custom, and which operating system it has: cordless lift, wand, motor, retractable cord, continuous loop with a tension device, or a pull cord.
• For a custom product, ask whether it is made to ANSI/WCMA A100.1-2022 and get the answer on the quote or the order. CPSC's 2009 note asks for cordless coverings in every home where children live or visit, and that is the product to ask for.
• Look for the Best for Kids label. The Window Covering Safety Council's certification program admits products with no cords, no operating cords and inaccessible inner cords, or inner cords that cannot form a hazardous loop, tested by an outside laboratory. Products that depend on breakaways, tie-downs or cleats do not qualify. Labels and spec sheets shows the label and the cord warning.
• Choose motorized with your eyes open. A motor counts as cordless; a hardwired motor is an electrician's job, and a battery or plug-in motor is installed as its maker says (Hardware and installing).

Curtains, shades, blinds and shutters shows which kinds are sold cordless, and the kinds table on The kinds compared can be filtered for a home with children.

4. Curtains, heaters and candles

Fabric at a window hangs beside the places heat is put: radiators and baseboard heaters under windows, a space heater pulled close on a cold night, candles on a sill.

Heaters: 3 feet

The U.S. Fire Administration says to keep anything that can burn at least 3 feet from all heat sources, naming fireplaces, wood stoves, radiators, space heaters and candles (USFA heating fire safety). The National Fire Protection Association gives the same 3 feet for space heaters and says to turn them off before bed (NFPA heating safety). CPSC's January 2026 winter release names drapes directly: portable heaters at least three feet from drapes, furniture, bedding and other combustibles. CPSC counts portable heaters as involved in an average of 1,600 fires a year from 2020 to 2022, with 70 deaths and 150 injuries a year. USFA estimates 32,200 home heating fires in 2021. Ask the authority

A curtain that falls over a radiator or a baseboard heater is inside that distance by definition. A 1971 extension bulletin from the University of Idaho said not to hang a drapery over a heating unit, for air circulation, fire risk and heat damage to the fabric (Be an "Aware" Shopper, cited for the principle, not as current guidance), and the Department of Energy's 2022 Energy Saver Guide says to keep registers, baseboard heaters and radiators clear of drapes. Over a heater, the usual answers are a sill-length curtain, a shade mounted inside the frame, or a rod placed so the curtain stacks to the side of the heater rather than over it. Preference Your heater's own label or manual may give its clearance; follow it if it asks for more. Ask the authority

Candles: 12 inches at least

NFPA's candle safety page says to keep candles at least 12 inches from anything that can burn, and that over half of home candle fires started when something like furniture, bedding, curtains or decorations was too close. USFA puts candles in its 3-foot list. A sill with a curtain above it is a poor place for a candle under either figure; a battery candle avoids the question.

"Flame retardant" and NFPA 701

Some curtain fabrics are sold as meeting NFPA 701. That is a test method for how flame spreads along a textile under set laboratory conditions; the 2023 edition is current. Fire codes require it for curtains in public buildings: a fire marshal's bulletin from Charleston, South Carolina, summarizing the 2021 International Fire Code, applies it to curtains and draperies in assembly occupancies (Decorative Materials in Assembly Occupancies). We found no rule that applies it to curtains in a private home. A pass tells you the fabric behaved a certain way in the test; it does not make the fabric safe beside a heater, and the 3 feet still applies. Convention

5. The window itself: falls and the escape window

Two window questions sit beside the cords, and both change where furniture and treatments go.

Falls

CPSC's April 2026 window safety release says about 5,600 children 12 and younger were treated in emergency departments in 2024 after falling from windows, about one in three of them hospitalized, and that at least 25 died from 2021 to 2023, 80 percent of those deaths between May and October. Its advice:

• Do not depend on screens to keep a child from falling.
• Install window stops so a window opens no more than 4 inches.
• On the 6th floor and below, choose window guards that adults and older children can open easily in a fire.
• Open windows from the top where you can, and keep furniture away from windows.
• If you rent, ask the landlord about guards.

The furniture advice is the same as the cord advice. A crib, bed, sofa or toy chest moved away from the window fixes both at once.

The escape window in a bedroom

The model residential building code requires every sleeping room to have at least one emergency escape and rescue opening that opens from inside without keys, tools or special knowledge, and requires any bars, grilles, screens or opening control devices on it to release the same way. A Washington State permitting consortium's tip sheet on the 2021 code sets this out (local adoption varies). ASTM's F2090-25 is the specification for fall prevention devices with an emergency release, written for children 5 and younger and for windows that serve as escape openings. Ask the authority

The code says nothing about curtains. Our reading, labeled as ours: a treatment over a bedroom's escape window should not stop the window from opening quickly. A curtain or a shade that lifts by hand passes. A fixed shutter, a panel screwed over the frame, a rod or tension rod across the sash, or a dresser pushed under the sill does not. Ask the authority

7. See it See it

• Window covering cords, CPSC: the agency's cordless advice and the interim steps, in its own words.
• Window blinds, Nationwide Children's Hospital: who is hurt, at what ages, and the room-by-room replacement order.
• Amendments to requirements for window covering cords, CPSC's 2026 proposal: the incident tables and what the proposal would cover.
• National Window Safety Week, 2026, CPSC: window stops, guards and furniture placement.

8. Practice Practice

Minimum: walk the child's own room, write each covering and its cord on the cord sheet with an action, and tick the heater and escape-window lines. Time: about 30 minutes for two rooms, longer for a whole home. Materials: a phone or notebook, a tape measure, a step stool, and the cord sheet.

1. Get down to the child's height. Kneel in each room the child uses or visits. Look at every covering from the front, the side and the back, as CPSC's 2009 note asks; check behind furniture and beside the crib.
2. Write one row per covering on the cord sheet: room, window, covering, cord type, whether a child can reach it (standing on anything nearby counts), and what is near it.
3. Pull gently between the slats of any horizontal blind. If an inner cord comes out into a loop, write "inner cords visible".
4. Choose an action for each row: replace with cordless, take down, interim steps until replaced, or none needed. Start with the child's sleeping room.
5. Measure from each heater to the nearest fabric. Anything under 3 feet goes on the installation checklist with what you will change.
6. Open each bedroom window from inside. If a treatment, rod or piece of furniture slows it, write that down too.
7. (Go deeper; optional) Check every other room children visit, and ask grandparents, a babysitter or a child care provider to do the same, as the hospital center suggests.

9. Your windows Your windows

Your setup says whether a child lives with you or visits, which rooms you are working on, and whether you rent.

10. Check your work Check your work

Criteria

• Does the cord sheet have a row for every covering in every room the child uses, including ones you think are safe?
• Does each row say whether a child can reach the cord, counting anything the child could stand on?
• Is the child's sleeping room dealt with first, by replacement or removal rather than by interim steps alone?
• Is the crib or bed on a wall away from the window?
• For anything you plan to buy, do you know whether it is stock or custom, and have you asked about the 2022 standard in writing?
• Is every heater at least 3 feet from fabric, and every candle at least 12 inches?
• Does each bedroom window open from inside without tools?

Worked example

The Adeyemis' sheet has every covering in the nursery and living room. The nursery blinds are down and the crib has moved, so the child's sleeping room has no reachable cord. The slider's order asks the seller for the standard in writing. The nursery has no heater, and its window opens with nothing in front of it. Their one open item is the arrival date, and the temporary shade covers the gap without a cord.

Common mistakes

• Checking only the front. Inner cords and cord loop lifts are often at the back or the side. Look from all three.
• Counting a wound-up cord as dealt with. A cleat works only when it is used every time. Write it as "interim" until the covering is replaced.
• Tying a cord up out of reach. The knot makes a loop, and a child on a mattress can reach higher than it looks.
• Assuming "new" means cordless. A custom product can still be built with an accessible cord under federal law as of November 8, 2026. Ask.
• A space heater beside floor-length curtains on a cold night. Measure the 3 feet; do not estimate it.

What is still unresolved

Whether the CPSC proposal becomes a final rule, and what it says if it does, is settled by CPSC in the Federal Register; check the docket. Whether a product meets the 2022 standard is settled by its maker in writing and its label. A rental's blinds are settled by the landlord. Whether a bedroom window is an escape opening, and what may cover it, is settled by the local building department. Choosing the cordless kind for each window is in Curtains, shades, blinds and shutters, and hanging it in Hardware and installing.

11. Knowledge check and scenario

Checklist

• The cord sheet lists every covering in the child's rooms, each with its action.
• Corded coverings in the child's sleeping room are taken down or replaced with cordless.
• Cribs, beds and climbable furniture are on a wall away from windows.
• The installation checklist's heater and escape-window items are ticked.
• Before buying: stock or custom known, and the 2022 standard asked about in writing.
• Other homes the child visits asked to check their cords. (Go deeper; optional)
• The 2026 proposal's status re-checked on the Federal Register after November 23, 2026. (Go deeper; optional)