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Child Safety

Best for Kids™ Certification Program

The new Best for Kids™ certification program recently launched by the window covering industry will assist in educating consumers about potential window-cord hazards facing young children and will aid consumers in making the right choice when selecting window coverings. In order to be eligible for this certification, manufacturers must meet the specified program criteria and submit their window covering products to a designated third party testing laboratory. Once products pass testing they may be labeled “Best for Kids”.

Products that qualify for “Best for Kids” either have no cords, no operating cords and inner cords that are not accessible, or if accessible inner cords are present in products with no operating cords, the accessible inner cords cannot create a hazardous loop.

“Parents with young children should replace their corded window coverings with the cordless products available.” says Window Covering Safety Council (WCSC) Executive Director, Peter Rush. “The new ‘Best for Kids’ certification label recently launched makes it easy for parents and caregivers to easily identify which products are best suited for their home.”

Window Areas

Never place a crib, playpen, bed or any type of low-standing furniture near a window. In exploring their surroundings, young children can accidentally fall through an open window or window screen, or become tragically entangled in a nearby window cord.  Whenever possible, place cribs and furniture on a non-windowed wall.

Dangling or accessible cords on window coverings can pose an accidental strangulation hazard to infants and young children. For safety’s sake, replace older corded window coverings with today’s safer products.  The Window Covering Safety Council (WCSC), safety advocates, and government safety officials recommend that you only use cordless window products in homes with young children.

If you can’t replace your corded window coverings, you can order free retrofit kits from WCSC at windowcoverings.org.  The website also contains a wealth of useful safety information for parents and caregivers.