Green Mountain Vista Inc. of Williston, Vermont, has just issued a large recall of about 200,000 <“https://www.yourlawyer.com/practice_areas/product_liability”>Roman Shades due to risk of strangulation, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) just announced. The CPSC is advising consumers to stop using the recalled products immediately and notes that it’s illegal to resell or attempt to resell […]
Green Mountain Vista Inc. of Williston, Vermont, has just issued a large recall of about 200,000 <“https://www.yourlawyer.com/practice_areas/product_liability”>Roman Shades due to risk of strangulation, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) just announced. The CPSC is advising consumers to stop using the recalled products immediately and notes that it’s illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.
Green Mountain Vista has added its name to the manufacturers and retailers joining the voluntary recall announced in December 2009 of ALL Roman shades and roll-up blinds. That recall announcement can be accessed here.
Strangulations can occur when a child places his/her neck between the exposed inner cord and the fabric on the backside of the shade or when a child pulls the cord out and wraps it around his/her neck.
To date, no incidents or injuries have been reported in connection to this recall, which involves all Green Mountain Vista Roman shades. These shades, which were manufactured in China, have a small sewn-on label on the back side of the shade with RN#107875 and were sold at specialty home textile retail shops and mail order companies, nationwide, from September 2004 through August 2010 for between $40 and $120.
The CPSC is advising consumers to immediately stop using the Roman shades and contact the Window Covering Safety Council (WCSC) for a free repair kit at (800) 506-4636 anytime or visit www.windowcoverings.org. The CPSC is also advising consumers to examine all shades and blinds in your home. Make sure there are no accessible cords on the front, side or back of the product. CPSC recommends the use of cordless window coverings in all homes where children live or visit.
Green Mountain Vista can be reached, toll-free, at (800) 639-1728 between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday or at the firm’s website at www.gmvista.com
We’ve been writing about the dangers and countless recalls associated with Roman Blinds and Roll-Up Shades for some time, recently writing that the CPSC, Health Canada (HC), and the European Commission’s Directorate General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO) joined together to call for strong and comprehensive international safety standards on window coverings from manufacturers and standards organizations.
Corded window coverings cause strangulation deaths and significant injuries in children worldwide. In the US, CPSC staff is aware of 120 fatalities and 113 non-fatal incidents related to corded window coverings since 1999. HC has received reports of 28 strangulation deaths and 23 near-strangulations linked to corded window coverings since 1986. In seven Member States of Europe, 90 children were reported to have visited hospital emergency departments for injuries caused by corded window coverings in 2002. At least six children in Europe have died from corded window coverings since 2008. Since December 2009, CPSC has recalled tens of millions of corded Roman shades and roll-up blinds sold by a variety of manufacturers and retailers.
