GREENSBORO, N.C. — Got kids in your life? Whether they're yours, your grandkids or the neighborhood kids, if kids come into your house you need to look at your furniture as a possible safety hazard.
Does that sound ridiculous? The Consumer Product Safety Commission wants you to look at your furniture from a kid's viewpoint.
They could be climbing the dresser or on their tiptoes to change the channel on the TV and down it, all comes on top of them. It happens quickly, without much warning and it can be deadly.
According to the CPSC, these are the stats:
CPSC staff is aware of 234 fatalities resulting from clothing storage unit tip-overs from January 2000 through April 2022, including 199 child fatalities. Staff estimates that there were 84,100 tip-over-related injuries (an estimated annual average of 5,300 injuries) with CSUs treated in a U.S. hospital emergency department from 2006 through 2021. Of these, staff estimates that 72 percent were injuries to children. From January 2000 through July 2022, there have been 43 recalls in response to tip-over hazards of CSUs, involving more than 21 million units.
The CPSC just approved new safety standards for dressers and clothing storage units. New furniture must exceed minimum stability requirements and prevent all drawers from being opened at once. (Kids often open the drawers and use them as steps to climb up)
HOW TO MAKE YOUR FURNITURE AT HOME SAFE
"What this new Federal safety standard does is. It applies to clothing storage units going forward. But we know that people have older furniture in their homes. It's still so important to make sure that that older furniture is anchored to the wall. That is really the safest way to keep that from falling on your child,” said Patty Davis, CPSC Spokesperson.
It's recommended that every bookcase, dresser, TV stand, and appliance be anchored to the wall and secured TVs that aren't wall mounted by using anti-tipping straps.
You can find the anchors or brackets at hardware stores for under $20-
While the new standards apply to clothing units that are 27 inches and higher, it’s a good rule of thumb to look at your own furniture. Twenty-seven inches is not very high, it's not even a yardstick length. If you have storage furniture this high or more you should be anchoring it to the wall.