Each year, nationwide, an estimated 3,000 children ages 5 and under go to the emergency room with injuries caused by TV sets falling or tipping over, and at least 100 people — mostly young children — have been killed since 2000 by falling TVs or other furniture, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Kids try to climb and reach the controls on a TV, or they pull on hanging cords, and they can pull a TV off a stand or pull the stand itself down on top of themselves. In some cases, children have been fatally crushed this way, and even nonfatal injuries to the head and neck can be devastating. Safe Kids Worldwide recommends these precautions to prevent furniture tipovers:
- Make sure TV stands, tables, dressers and other pieces of furniture are stable and not top-heavy. Drawers and shelves should be loaded with heavier contents near the bottom and less weight near the top.
- Furniture that kids might be tempted to climb — such as bookcases, dressers or anything holding electronics — should be anchored to a wall or floor with angle brackets.
- Tie electrical cords out of reach of children.
- Don't keep remote controls, candy or other tempting items on unstable stands or tables.
In response to several child fatalities from furniture-related head injuries, Reps. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.), James McGovern (D-Mass.) and Danny Davis (D-Ill.) introduced legislation in the 109th Congress to require that any furniture at risk of tipping over carry a warning label and be sold with anchoring devices and instructions. The legislation will most likely be reintroduced in the 110th Congress.
More Furniture Safety Tips
Kids are in danger of suffocation if they become accidentally trapped in a cabinet, toy chest or laundry machine; there are also at least 45 known cases since 1975 in which a child has been trapped and strangled under the lid of a toy chest. Always supervise children around any confined space and keep the doors closed and locked.
Toy chests that meet voluntary standards set by the CPSC are equipped with lid supports that hold the lid open in any position. The standards also call for ventilation holes to prevent suffocation. If you have a toy chest with a lid that doesn¡¦t stay open, the CPSC recommends you remove the lid or install a spring-loaded lid support.
These are not hazards that kill thousands of children every year, like vehicle crashes or drowning, but they are easy to prevent and the consequences can be severe. Don¡¦t underestimate the possibility of a small child being crushed by unsteady furniture.
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