What you need to know about furniture safety to avoid tip-overs
Isn’t it wonderful to observe a child’s growth and development, watching them act upon their curiosity? It’s great to witness their developing cognitive abilities bloom and the smiles on their faces from achieving what they set out to accomplish. “Hooray! You did it!” We love it when children become mobile so we may foster their curiosity, exploration, and learning. But never forget, a child’s interest about an out of reach object may lead to accidents, tragic accidents. Being proactive is where we can minimize risks and prevent fatal accidents, especially furniture and television tip-overs. Furniture and TV tip-overs happen more often than you’d think, causing serious and even fatal incidents so furnish your rooms with safety in mind.
Safety is always the priority
Designing your child’s nursery or bedroom is such a special project - filled with love and excitement. But looking beyond the design, we need to be mindful of potential dangers, such as furniture tip-overs. Aside from a crib or bed, you’ll typically have a dresser, bookcase and maybe even a desk for the bigger kids. All pieces that have drawers or shelves to climb on and are large, bulky and can be heavy. Before your little ones begin to crawl, stand and walk, every piece must be secured to the wall for safety because the statistics are not so awesome, and the reality is quite shocking. Most vendors will include an anti-tip furniture kit with their casegoods and TV’s. If yours did not come with one you can easily find a quality kit at your local hardware store. By securing these pieces before your littles start becoming mobile, you will avoid the stress and rush to get it done in the moment and have peace of mind knowing that it won’t tip over.
Why you should be concerned about tip-over incidents
A 2023 Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) report on tip-over incidents identified that, in the United States from 2020-2022 there were nearly 18,000 people who went to the emergency room with tip-over related injuries. Of that number, children under age 18 suffered 44 percent of injuries, amounting to a child being treated in an emergency department (ED-treated) every 53 minutes. And children ages 1 to 4 years account for 60 percent of all tip overs. And since 2000, there have been 581 tip-over fatalities involving furniture, TVs, or appliances, of which 472 were children (81%, ages 17 years and younger). A child standing on a lower shelf, pulling on or opening drawers to climb in could result in the furniture becoming unbalanced, falling forward, and tipping over.
A study from Consumer Reports found that consumers cannot tell if a dresser will tip-over just by looking at it. Because there is no way to know whether a piece of furniture could fall just by looking at it, this is why anchoring all furniture in your child’s room is best to help prevent a tip-over. It is not only crucial to secure lightweight pieces but all pieces, no matter the superior quality or weight. It’s easy to fall into a false sense of security, so for the sake of peace of mind - anchor it all! The Consumer Report also mentioned that the furniture industry only has a voluntary tip-over testing standard. Key word, voluntary - so some manufacturers meet the standard, whereas others do not. Nowhere is a consumer clearly informed if their purchase meets that standard. Remember, consumers cannot tell if a piece of furniture will fall just by looking at it, and most people haven’t even thought of this safety issue while shopping, so all furniture has the potential to tip-over. Many furniture manufacturers include wall anchoring hardware with their case goods (ex: dressers, nightstands, chests, cabinets, bookcases, armoires), but are not currently required to be tested for safety, so I’d recommend purchasing your own quality anchoring kit. Stay away from the kits that use inferior materials like plastic parts that can become brittle, break and ultimately may fail. When it comes to safety, do your homework and install quality hardware.
Properly mounting or anchoring your TV can help prevent accidents
Another potential hazard is placing televisions on furniture. Children may want to reach a TV or electronic device by climbing on the furniture piece the TV is placed on. If a child is reaching for another object and not intentionally for the TV or other device, the result could also be a TV and furniture tip-over. Children reach for items on top of furniture, pulling on drawers, and even climbing, making it unstable. Most tip-overs occur when the TV is not properly anchored or secured to the furniture, as well as the furniture not secured to the wall. The CPSC analysis estimated an annual average of 12,500 child-related (under 18 years of age) emergency department-treated injuries involving televisions falling (television + furniture) that occurred from 2016-2018. That’s a scary number knowing that these incidents can be prevented.
Protecting your children requires you to take action
Being a parent comes with the natural instincts to protect your children. You will do anything to keep them safe. Often times there are potential dangers that you might not even be aware of. If you haven’t already secured your furnishings to the wall - even the dresser in your primary bedroom and those bookcases in your living room or anything else climbable, please use this as your reminder to ask questions and take action! There’s massive importance in anchoring and securing furniture and televisions to prevent tip-over incidents. We’ve heard the tragic stories of families losing their toddlers to furniture or TV tip-overs too many times. It is real and it can happen. I recently watched an episode titled “Deadly Dressers” on the Netflix series “Broken”. It is gut-wrenching and eye-opening. If you haven’t seen it yet, it is worth the watch. If that isn’t enough, please take the time to read this heartbreaking story written by a mother that lost her 3 year old daughter to a furniture tip-over incident. Let’s spread the word so parents and caregivers can continue to watch their little ones grow without having to experience such tragedies. To find out more about how to secure furniture and TV’s to walls, check out Anchor It! and kits such as Hangman Products and Quakehold!
Want to learn even more or get involved? Although there are numerous resources to provide you with information, check out the few below to get you started and dive even deeper into this very important topic.
Consumer Product Safety Commission - Product Instability or Tip-Over Injuries and Fatalities Associated with Televisions, Furniture, and Appliances: 2023 Report
In 2015, the CPSC launched the Anchor It! campaign to educate and prevent furniture and television tip-overs. Learn how to anchor a television or furniture here.
In 2018, Parents Against Tip-Overs (PAT) was founded by parents who have experienced the loss of a child from a furniture tip-over incident.
Kids In Danger (KID) is a nonprofit organization fighting for product safety.
