Furniture or large-screen TV tip overs can be an enormous risk to a growing child. Every 24 minutes, a tip-over accident injures a child in the U.S. On average, a child dies every two weeks from a piece of furniture or television falling on them. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) Anchor It! campaign was designed to combat these grim statistics. In order to educate parents and other caregivers about the dangers of tip-overs, the CPSC has compiled a number of suggestions and resources.
Manufacturers and Recalls
Because two children died in furniture tip over accidents, IKEA has begun offering free wall anchoring repair kits for their chests and dressers because of the problem. In total, about 27 million items were recalled by IKEA. But IKEA is not the only furniture manufacturer with a recall in 2015; furniture maker Pali has also issued one.
Older recalls, for those who buy furniture secondhand or use hand-me-downs, include the following companies and brands:
- Million Dollar Baby (Bexco)
- Natart Chelsea
- Guidecraft
- Ameriwood (sold by Walmart).
If you have pieces by any of these furniture makers in your home, and they are unsecured, we urge you to take care of the problem before tragedy strikes in your home.
Televisions, Too
Tip-overs are far from being a problem that occurs only with dressers and bookcases. A full 65 percent of all tip-over fatalities involve large-screen televisions. Did you know that the force exerted by a falling TV can be thousands of pounds? It’s like being hit by an NFL lineman. Imagine that happening to your four-year-old.
The most common injuries when a tip-over happens, as you might expect, are head injuries. Two-thirds of all tip-over injuries happen to toddlers, and, sadly, fatalities are extremely concentrated in the age group of children under ten. Of all furniture tip over deaths, 84 percent of them fall in this group.
How You Can Make Your Home Safe From Furniture Tip Overs
We hope we have your attention with the statistics above and that you will employ the following suggestions in preventing a tip-over tragedy in your home:
- Properly secure your media center or TV stand, and be certain it is strong enough to hold something as heavy as your television.
- ALL flat-screen TVs and televisions that are not wall-mounted need to be fastened to the wall.
- Don’t keep objects that are tempting to children on higher shelves of furniture or on TV stands and in media centers. Kids may try to climb the furniture in an attempt to reach a toy or the remote control.
- Secure ALL top-heavy or tall furniture that is vulnerable to tipping over. Check all your dressers, shelving, bookcases, and chests, and attach them to the walls.
- Store heavy items on bottom shelves or in bottom drawers in order to help stabilize items of furniture.
- Follow any instructions you receive from manufacturers regarding how to secure furniture and televisions.
Finally, be sure to check the CPSC website. It will have the latest in recall information. If you believe you have an injury claim resulting from a recall, contact our attorneys for a free consultation.
Bert Louthian has been practicing law in Columbia with his father, Herb, since 1985. After receiving his Juris Doctorate from the University of South Carolina, Bert launched his legal career in his father’s firm. With 80 years of legal experience between them, Louthian Law, P.A. remains Family-Owned and Family-Focused.
Bert understands that when life goes wrong – when you or someone you love gets hurt or suffers a loss, it can feel like nothing will ever be right or fair again. He gets up and goes to work every day to prove that feeling wrong – and does everything in his power to make things right again.
