Did you know that every hour in the United States, a child is rushed to the emergency room because of toppling furniture? According to a Children’s Hospital Injury Prevention Coordinator, this sobering statistic has been increasing for years. Since 2007, there has been a 31 percent increase in tip-over injuries involving televisions. Seven out of 10 children injured by TV tip-overs are under the age of five.
The amount of force that televisions create when falling is very high. If a 36-inch CRT television falls three feet, the amount of force in that television is equal to a 10-story fall for a one year old child, enough to cause catastrophic injury. And though televisions are getting thinner and lighter, many modern televisions still weigh from 25 to 100 pounds.
It isn’t just televisions, though – shelves, dressers, even heavy picture frames could be a danger to your children.
PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM TIPPING FURNITURE
- Ensure that your furniture is in a stable position.
- If you are able to mount your television on the wall, you should. A properly mounted wall TV is much safer than one sitting on a TV stand.
- Secure any top heavy furniture with wall brackets. For dresser drawers, install stops to prevent them from pulling all the way out.
- For any household items stored in shelves or cabinets, rearrange the items to put the heavier items as close to the floor as possible.
- Don’t leave any enticing items, like remote controls, tablets or sweets in areas where children might try to climb to reach them.
Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”