‘Beautiful, cheeky’ NZ toddler dies in curtain cord accident, prompting a heartbroken warning from his parents

WARNING: Distressing content

The Christchurch parents of a toddler who died of an accidental hanging, when he became caught in the cord of his bedroom roller blind, are pleading for better safety messaging about the danger in New Zealand.

They had put their three-year-old son down for a nap earlier this year, and discovered him unresponsive when they went to wake him up, a NZ coroner’s findings released on Monday said.

The family, whose identities have been suppressed by the court, had been at the beach, and returned home for some lunch before the toddler’s regular afternoon nap, during which the father said his son could be heard “babbling away”, on January 20.

But when the father went to collect his son from the bedroom about 4pm, he was not in his bed. Coroner Heather McKenzie’s findings said: “He found (the boy) in front of the curtain with a cord wrapped around the front of his neck.”

The boy’s father carried him to his mother, and the pair began to perform CPR and call emergency services, which were unable to revive the boy when they arrived five minutes later.

“It appears to me on the available evidence that (the boy) was playing in or otherwise near the blind, the cord became wrapped around the front of his neck, and he was unable to extricate himself,” McKenzie said.

“I do not know how long he had been there before (his father) discovered him.

“In all of these circumstances, I find that (his) death was a tragic accident.

“(He) was a very much-loved son and brother. He is greatly missed.

“(His) parents described him as their beautiful, cheeky, and sweet little buddy. They are devastated and heartbroken to have lost him, and also suffer seeing (their six-year-old daughter) grieving for her brother.”

Lack of NZ safety action ‘regrettable’

In New Zealand, there are currently no mandatory safety guidelines, unlike Australia where a mandatory standard applies to internal blinds, curtains and window fittings produced after 2010.

McKenzie said the parents believe “that there should be better safety messages regarding blind cords”.

“They want to avoid the same thing happening to any other parent/family.”

The coronial findings revealed that while the boy’s parents were aware of the possible danger, the father had miscalculated the risk.

“Usually (the boy’s mother) would remind (his father) to put the blind up and wrap it high around the railing.

“He did not think (the boy) had ever played with the cord before. Other than hiding behind the curtains, (the boy) had never been known to have jumped or played with them.”

McKenzie said that there were no recommendations she could make which would go further than those already made by Coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale, following the death of a 19-month old by accidental asphyxiation from a roman blind cord in 2018.

“The family tragically affected by this death were unaware of the hazard posed by inner blind cords, located at the reverse of the blind. Their custom-made blind was supplied with no safety information,” Borrowdale said.

She noted the number of related child deaths in the nation should be proof enough to “declare prescriptive mandatory regulations or standards” and called it “regrettable” that the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE) “has taken no steps to develop product regulation.”

The MBIE previously said a standard would not be implemented without first “establishing a robust case for a mandatory standard”.

Borrowdale’s extensive recommendations said: “It is to be hoped that this finding ... will give MBIE much of the robust case that it needs.”

‘Similar to child drownings’

The coroners agreed parental education alone was not enough to prevent window cord fatalities.

She quoted the co-author of a US study of window cord fatalities, Dr Gary Smith, who said: “Messaging is not enough. Designing the problem out of existence, in this case by manufacturing only cordless blinds, is the most effective strategy.”

Borrowdale also quoted advice from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which was published before the ACCC mandated stricter regulations in 2014: “The ACCC does not believe that parental education alone sufficiently mitigates the hazard.”

McKenzie said curtain cords should be treated with as much caution as bodies of water.

“Window blind strangulation incidents can be fatal within minutes and can occur silently. In this regard, they are similar to child drownings,” she said.

“Accessible window blind cords should be considered as hazardous to young children as standing bodies of water.”

More advice about window blind cord safety can be found on the Product Safety, and ACCC websites.