As your family and friends gather this weekend to watch football, take some time for safety. Recently LG recalled their free-standing 86-Inch Smart Televisions for serious tip-over hazards, reminding us that anchoring your TV stands and mounting or anchoring your TVs to prevent tip-overs is always wise. A Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) report showed that on average 22,500 emergency department visits are attributed to furniture tip-overs per year (2018-2020), of which 44% involved children. According to the report, there were 472 child tip-over fatalities since 2000, and 71% involved a television.
For the past decade, KID has worked with Parents Against Tip-overs (PAT) and other advocates to pass the STURDY Act. In December, President Biden signed the STURDY Act into law requiring the CPSC to enact a strong, mandatory standard to prevent dresser tip-overs that would:
- Cover all clothing storage units such as dressers, chests, and bureaus,
- Require testing to simulate the weights of children up to 72 months old,
- Require testing measures to account for scenarios involving carpeting, loaded drawers, multiple open drawers, and the dynamic force of a climbing child, and
- Mandate strong warning requirements.
In the meantime, KID strongly encourages parents and caregivers to anchor your current furniture so, we can keep our children safe while these stronger standards are enacted. The CPSC has helpful videos to show how to properly anchor furniture and TVs before the game at AnchorIt.gov.
