Make it Safe!

We want you to enjoy your new window blinds without having to worry about safety. That’s why all our blinds with manual chain and cord operation
are installed to the highest safety standard with the appropriate safety devices and to restricted lengths as promoted by the British Blind & Shutter
Association (BBSA).

When buying new blinds, make sure to ask about blinds that are “safe by design”. Every blind style comes with a non-corded control option where no operating cord is used, or the cords are tensioned or concealed within the system. Instead you can opt for a wand, crank gear or motorised control option which is becoming increasingly popular.Please click here to download the BBSA’s ‘Make it Safe’ brochure.

There are also ways you can ensure your existing blinds are safe. We have put together some recommendation for:

Roller blinds

without appropriate safety measures, cords attached to your blind can be a threat to children and babies. Tensioning devices are recommended to help stop the cord being loose. Here at Capricorn Blinds we stock various options of tensioning devices. Using a tensioning device doesn’t disrupt the simple use of the blind and makes the cord nice and tight, helping to avoid any possible safety hazards.

Venetian blinds

For the Venetian Blinds, if the cord is long and poses a threat to people’s safety, you can cut the cord so that it is shorter and out of reach of children. We recommend that you use a cleat to help keep the cord secure. The cleat should be as high as possible. For new blinds, the cleat should be no lower than 1.5m off the floor. If there are multiple cords, we suggest that you use a large cleat or multiple cleats.

Roman Blinds

Roman Blinds come with many safety measures to ensure that they are safe and simple to use. One of the most common safety measures is using a cleat to help keep the cord out of children’s reach. If your cord is too long, we highly suggest cutting it so that it is safer. There are other safety measures you can use, such as a break away cord which under pressure pulls all the cords out and helps avoid choking.

Pleated blinds

Cord Pleated Blinds are super easy to make safe. All you have to do to make your blind safe is make sure the cord is out of a child’s reach. A simple cleat can achieve this. At Capricorn Blinds we supply various types of cleats according to your blinds needs.

Vertical blinds

With vertical blinds, you have both the cord and the chain. There is a wide variety of tensioning devices available to help make these blinds child friendly. If your cord and chain are both the same length you can use one tensioning device to keep them together. If they are not the same length do not worry, you can just use two separate tensioning devices to keep the cord and chain out of reach.

Make it Safer

The Make It Safe campaign was launched in 2009 by the BBSA to raise awareness for safer blinds and to provide appropriate safety advice to homeowners and manufacturers in the blind industry. For more information and useful safety tips, visit www.bbsa.org.uk

We also have a selection of short videos on how to make your blinds safer. Please click on the links below to view. The video will open in a new window.