Father pushes blind-cord safety

Feb 6 2012

The father of a toddler who died when she got tangled in the cord of a window blind has backed a new campaign to highlight the dangers they pose - on the anniversary of his daughter's death.

Muireann McLaughlin, two, died at her home in Menstrie, Clackmannanshire, prompting sheriff David Mackie to call for looped blind cords to be banned.

Muireann slipped and fell while waving goodbye to her grandmother in February 2008.

A fatal accident inquiry found she had knocked herself unconscious and had fallen into the looped cord of the blind - one of 21 similar accidents to have happened in the UK since 1999.

Muireann's death prompted Government-funded agency Make It Safe to raise awareness of blind-cord strangulation. Now the agency is distributing leaflets, some of which are in Gaelic and Polish, to help prevent similar infant deaths in the UK.

Angus McLaughlin, Muireann's father, said: "Though nothing will ever bring my beautiful daughter back, we can at least try to prevent other families being devastated in the same way by spreading the word about this hidden hazard.

"Being a proud Scot, I am also pleased to see that the potentially life-saving advice contained in those leaflets is now available in Gaelic."

In the leaflets, safety charity the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents determines the risk factors and includes its own research findings for parents. It says children aged 16 to 36 months are the most vulnerable to a blind-cord accident.