by Shane Henson — December 7, 2012—The Window Covering Manufacturers Association (WCMA) has approved a new standard that it says strengthens window covering safety in the United States. The latest revision, ANSI/WCMA A100.1-2012, was updated in strict accordance with the internationally respected American National Standards Institute (ANSI) process and is the sixth revision of the American National Standard for Safety of Corded Window Covering Products standard since 1996, the organization says.
The voluntary standard covers ways to make window products with cords (such as Venetian blinds) safer for consumers, since the cords pose a strangulation hazard, particularly for young children, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Production of safer cords began in 1995, but consumers, specifiers and managers are warned to check window products installed before 2000 for both visible cords and inner cords, and to install all window coverings in a safe configuration.
The updates included in the ANSI/WCMA A100.1-2012 standard provide multiple options for achieving compliance without mandating any particular technology or solution, says WCMA. The revised standard:
- Adds requirements for durability and performance testing of the tension/hold down devices, including new requirements for anchoring, specific installation instructions and warnings;
- Provides a way to address new innovations for controlling cords that do not use tension devices;
- Adds new requirements for products that rely on “wide-lift bands” to raise and lower window coverings;
- Requires a warning label and pictograms on the outside of stock packaging and merchandising materials for corded products; and
- Adds and expands testing requirements for cord accessibility, hazardous loop testing, roll-up style shade performance, and durability testing of all safety devices.
