Cords on clothing ‘can be deadly’

ONE-in-10 items of children’s clothing with long cords or drawstrings are potentially dangerous, an EU survey has found.

Every year children die or are seriously injured when cords, belts and ribbons get caught up in things like playground slides, bus doors and in the spokes of bicycle wheels. Strangulation is one of the main causes of accidental child deaths in Europe, some of it caused by clothing. Serious injuries, especially to eyes, are caused by elasticated cords that snap back when caught. The survey of thousands of pieces of children’s clothing in 10 EU countries, including Ireland, with cord and drawstrings, found that many are dangerous – breaching EU safety rules.

In Denmark, almost all those inspected were unsafe while in Ireland just 3% did not comply with the rules.