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Urgent warning over roller blind cords as girl, 4, becomes the fourth child to die in a year by getting caught in them
- A total of 10 children have died in Australia in the past decade from blind cords
- The latest incident was a four-year-old girl who died in October last year
- Girl was playing in her room and is believed to have climbed drawers near cords
- She then got tangled and slipped which left her hanging and lose consciousness
An urgent warning has been in put in place to parents after four children died in the space of a year from getting their necks stuck in roller blind cords.
The latest incident was a four-year-old girl whose neck got stuck while playing in her bedroom with her sister in October last year.
Ten children have died in Australia in the past decade after accidentally being strangled by a roller blind cord.
The young girl’s death is the fourth in just 12 months, leading to an urgent warning to parents to be more vigilant.
The latest incident was a four-year-old girl whose neck got stuck in the roller blind cord while playing in her bedroom (stock image)
The coroner’s finding detailed how the toddler, known as Infant A, was first playing with her older sister in the hallway while their mother watched on before they moved to the bedroom.
‘The girls first played with some wooden blocks, before Infant A’s mother built towers with them and then read them a book in Infant A’s bedroom,’ the coroner ruled.
The mother then left to go to the kitchen and said she could see Infant A’s sister next to the cupboard from where she was.
‘Soon after, on noticing that the house sounded quiet Infant A’s mother returned to the bedroom to check on Infant A and her sister. On doing so she saw the curtain cord wrapped around Infant A’s neck,’ the inquest report read.
She immediately picked up her daughter and untangled the cord from her neck but the young child was unresponsive.
The mother desperately performed CPR as she waited for emergency services who took over and rushed the girl to hospital.
Parents are urged to utilise safety kits which contain a device that tensions looped cords to a window frame so they are no longer loose (stock image)
An investigation found the infant suffered a lack of oxygen to the brain which then lead to the parent’s heartbreaking decision to disconnect the girl’s ventilator.
Police believe Infant A climbed on the bedside table next to the blind cord which got somehow made its way around her neck.
She then slipped with the cord still around her neck and was left hanging.
Consumer Affairs Victoria has been running a public awareness campaign for the past 10 years about the dangers of roller blind and curtain cords.
Coroner John Olle urged for more safety kits to be handed out to parents which contains a device that tensions looped cords to a window frame so they are no longer loose, reducing the likelihood of strangulation.
Mr Olle said it was ‘paramount’ to ensure parents know of the dangers their children risk with blind cords.
