Two states are in final discussions to regulate window covering cords. One of them is California, which tends to trickle over the mountains to our region. The WCMA, Window Coverings Manufacturers Association, is working closely with them to come up with standards that are both safe and practical. As usually happens, when different states are trying to come up with standards, they tend to cause confusion nationally. You can expect the federal government to “assist” with guidelines and then federal regulations to come up with one standard for window covering Hunter Douglas Child Safety Information. The blinds and shades of your past will not be available in the future. Think about this illustration to show you what you can expect. If you are old enough, you will remember the old flush toilets. They used to flush 2.4 gallons, or more. Regulations reduced the flush rate to 1.6 gallons. Did you actually notice the difference? Yep, we did. For a while. And then the engineers got involved and improved the efficiency of the design, so that now, the low volume toilets are actually far better than the original design. How does this relate to window coverings? Certain companies are ahead of the curve. They have seen the writing on the wall, and started designing cord free systems that will be very functional and stylish. On the other hand, there are many companies that are followers, as opposed to leaders. These companies will be caught up in catching up and you can expect to see “toilets that don’t flush right”. In other words, they are so involved in what is happening now, that they are unprepared for what is coming. So, in the end, this blog post is about aligning yourself with forward thinking and forward acting companies. Please review our policy about child safety which was established late in 2013. A later blog will discuss what to do about your old window coverings, which will soon be in non-compliance.