Source: Radio New Zealand
Tilly Cambie is remembered as a typically adventurous three-year-old who loved climbing and adored her big sister Lainey. Supplied
The mother of a child who died after becoming caught in a window blind cord is asking how many other children have to die before mandatory safety regulations are introduced.
Courtney Cambie said her youngest daughter Tilly was a joy to be around.
“Tilly was your typical three-year-old, adventurous, loved climbing and adored her big sister Lainey. They were best friends. She loved dressing up and putting on different necklaces and bracelets and bangles, and was a very, sparkly, shiny little girl, and very happy.”
It was her then five-year-old sister Lainey who discovered Tilly hanging in the cords in the family’s lounge in Hāwera on 1 January 2023.
Tilly’s father Ryan Cambie began CPR and ambulance officers were able to revive her before she was taken to Waikato Hospital by helicopter, but her condition deteriorated and given her poor prognosis, she was taken off life support and died later that day surrounded by family.
Courtney Cambie said window cords should be designed to break under pressure and come with safety clips – which keep the cords under tension on the window frame.
Tilly – who had a history of playing with the cords – had left Lainey and her father watching a movie in the master bedroom when the accident occurred.
Cambie still wrestled with guilt over the tragedy.
“We were only supplied a YouTube clip to install ours. We were in that situation. If I could go back in time I would’ve done the lounge at the same time as I did her bedroom and it’s just one of those things where I have instant mother guilt that it didn’t happen.”
The couple installed clips for the cords in the bedroom on their own account – they did not come with the blinds – but had yet to do the lounge.
Cambie said the loss of Tilly was too raw for the couple to submit to a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment consultation document on “options to address safety risks of corded window coverings” which closed 31 March 2023.
The consultation followed the death of six New Zealand children due to cords on blinds since 2009.
The government of those times’ preferred option was to introduce mandatory standards.
Cambie said reading Coroner Bruce Hesketh’s report into Tilly’s death – which was released on Thursday – had been tough.
“To read that the coroner feels exactly the same towards the fact that this is something (regulation) that’s been in play in other countries for years and years and we’ve just not adopted it because we haven’t got the number, the cases.
“I agree completely with the coroner that Tilly is that case and it was something that should’ve been changed a long time ago.
“It’s sad that it probably won’t be until it’s someone in their family that is impacted by this that they understand the impact of it and I just feel if they don’t how many more children are they willing to sacrifice if they don’t make that change.”
Hesketh found Tilly’s death had been a tragic accident.
She suffered a non-survivable hypoxic brain injury due to accidental neck compression.
In his findings, Hesketh lent heavily on the previous recommendations of Coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale and Coroner Heather McKenzie, who had investigated similar deaths.
In 2021, Borrowdale reported on the death of a 19-month-old child from accidental asphyxiation from a roman blind cord.
She noted that New Zealand differed from comparable major jurisdictions in having no product regulation designed to ensure the safe supply and use of corded blinds.
Although efforts to educate consumers about safety were laudable “the incidence of window cord fatalities in this country, and the availability of preventative devices, to my mind readily make the case for mandatory regulation to address the risks”, Borrowdale said.
Hesketh made no new recommendations, but noted the MBIE consulted on the safety risks of corded window coverings in 2023, but little change had been forthcoming.
“Sadly New Zealand still lacks mandatory regulations for corded window coverings, despite the number of deaths increasing. MBIE continues to consider the introduction of standards to prevent child strangulation deaths from the options above and I would encourage MBIE to make progress sooner rather than later.”
There have been two further deaths since the consultation period in ended in March 2023, one of which was Tilly.
MBIE general manager commerce, consumer and business policy Andrew Hume acknowledged the tragic death of Tilly.
“My deepest sympathies are with the family and friends.”
Hume confirmed MBIE had consulted on options to address safety risks of corded window coverings in 2023.
“Our role is to provide advice and options for product safety regulation to the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister. At this stage, the government is not considering introducing regulations for corded window coverings.”
Hume said non-regulatory options to improve safety, such as public information and education campaigns, played an important role in increasing awareness for parents and caregivers and that since Coroner Borrowdale’s report in 2021, MBIE had taken a number of steps to address safety issues with corded window coverings.
“In light of this tragic event, MBIE strongly encourages anyone with corded window blinds to inspect them, review the material on our website and take action where necessary to minimise the risk of corded blinds becoming a danger in the home.”
Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Scott Simpson also offered his thoughts and sympathies to Tilly’s family.
“I will consider the Coroner’s report, however I am not currently looking to introduce regulations.”
Simpson said education campaigns played an important role in increasing awareness about the risks associated with corded blinds and MBIE runs had developed information for businesses to make corded blinds safer.
That was of little comfort to Cambie who wanted New Zealand to adopt similar standards to Australia.
“Option 4a was to adopt exactly as Australia has and make sure the cords break free under pressure. So, the cords we had were metal chains, they should only supply plastic ones that break and that all suppliers must supply the clips.
Education could only go so far, she said.
“As a parent you can’t watch your child every minute of the day, they like to play and how do you explain to a three year old the hazards – in their entirety – of corded blinds.”
Consumer NZ head of research and advocacy Gemma Rasmussen supported the call for regulation.
“If you look at other jurisdictions like Australia, the UK and Canada, they all have standards in place for corded window coverings. This seems like a really straightforward thing to do, particularly when you’re considering what the ramifications are when things go wrong.
“We’re talking about babies, toddlers and children dying. You know, we have a number of product safety standards that are set by regulation under the Fair Trading Act and these standards are created to reduce the chance of accidents.”
Rasmussen said it was relatively straightforward to introduce a new standard compared to legislation.
“We see this as a disappointing example of the minister not prioritising product safety and it’s an example of where we’re really behind the eight ball when you compare ourselves to other jurisdictions.
Rasmussen said Consumer NZ would like to see a product safety standard created so that when blinds with cords were installed, it would be mandatory that there would be a fastening over them so that chains or cords wouldn’t be able to come loose and pose a safety risk.
She said education programmes alone were not enough.
“Often when parents are setting up blinds and other things in their homes, they’re tired, there’s a number of different things they need to do and we can’t be assuming that they’re going to go to a website to be reading safety guidelines.”
MBIE initiatives on corded window blinds safety include:
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
