Looped blind cords and chains are a known strangulation hazard for young children, and the industry standard that addresses it — BS EN 13120 — has real teeth. If you are responsible for a school, nursery, care setting or any building where children may be present, it is worth understanding what the standard actually requires, because responsibility does not end with the manufacturer.
What the standard requires
BS EN 13120 covers the safety of internal window blinds. Since its 2014 amendment, the position on cords and chains is strict: blinds must either be inherently safe by design — no accessible cord or chain loop at all — or be fitted with safety devices that prevent a hazardous loop forming. In practice that means:
- Chain tensioners and tidies that hold the loop taut against the wall so it cannot be pulled out and around a neck.
- Breakaway connectors that snap the loop open under load.
- Cleats fitted at the correct height for tying off cords on venetian and roman blinds.
- Limits on cord and chain lengths relative to installation height.
Critically, the standard applies at the point of installation. A compliant blind installed without its tensioner fitted — or with the tensioner left loose in the box, which we have seen more than once on site — is not a compliant installation.
Who carries the responsibility
The manufacturer must supply a compliant product, the installer must fit the safety devices, and the building operator has an ongoing duty to keep them in place. A tensioner that has been unscrewed by a previous contractor, or a cleat that was never used, is exactly the kind of finding that surfaces in an audit — or worse, an incident investigation.
The simplest answer: design the loop out
For new installations in schools and nurseries we increasingly recommend removing the hazard rather than guarding it: wand-operated blinds, crank operation for large or high windows, or motorised blinds with no accessible operating loop at all. On refurbishment work, existing blinds can very often be retrofitted with tensioners and breakaways for a fraction of the cost of replacement — something we routinely do as part of a repair and maintenance visit.
We fit blinds in schools and colleges every week of term, and every installation leaves site compliant with BS EN 13120. If you are unsure whether your existing blinds would pass an inspection, ask us for a survey — checking is quick, and retrofitting is usually cheaper than people expect. There is more on our approach on our child safety page.