\u201cIt\u2019s a parent\u2019s worst nightmare, and behind every one of those numbers is a family that lost a child to something preventable,\u201d Brewer said. <\/p>\n
\u201cNew Zealand families deserve to know the products they buy for their homes are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Between 2021 and 2026, three coroners recommended improvements to the safety of corded blinds. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why we are making it mandatory for new corded window coverings to meet internationally recognised safety standards, including those used in Australia, Canada, Europe and the United States,\u201d Brewer said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a practical, sensible fix that brings us into line with international best practice and makes these products safer for children.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once the change is formally made, within a few months, there will be a one-year transition period for businesses to prepare.<\/p>\n
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Cameron Brewer. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
The standard will apply to newly supplied products only and will not apply retrospectively to blinds already installed.<\/p>\n
Brewer said that once the standards were in place, new corded blinds would need to remove or reduce cord hazards through shorter cords, clearer warning labels, or safety devices supplied with the item so parents could fix loose cords out of a child\u2019s reach.<\/p>\n
Many corded blinds sold here, particularly pre-made products from major retailers, already met a safety standard. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo this targets the higher-risk products that don\u2019t, while keeping compliance costs limited for businesses already doing the right thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
New standards applied to new products, so for the blinds already in homes, awareness matters just as much. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d urge any parent with corded window coverings to visit MBIE\u2019s Product Safety website for advice on replacing them or keeping cords out of reach,\u201d Brewer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a parent myself, I want every mum and dad to have confidence that their home is a safe place for their kids. No family should lose a child to something this preventable, and putting these standards in place is the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s a parent\u2019s worst nightmare, and behind every one of those numbers is a family that lost a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[74,682,23541,78417,3021,2511,1061,9341,250945,15166,48901,266,96883,42,5338,12892,43,29691,4887,6302,4499,3235,11422,40,38,41,39,80],"class_list":["post-502832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-after","tag-being","tag-blind","tag-blinds","tag-bring","tag-child","tag-children","tag-compulsory","tag-corded","tag-deaths","tag-decided","tag-government","tag-hazards","tag-headlines","tag-makes","tag-mandatory","tag-news","tag-order","tag-reduce","tag-safety","tag-small","tag-sold","tag-standards","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}