TV injuries

Every day, approximately 40 young children are taken to hospital emergency rooms with injuries suffered as a result of a heavy piece of furniture falling on them? Furthermore, TV sets were the most common item associated with tip-over injuries to children.

Dr. Gary Smith, head of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, used data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission to analyze injuries to children in the U.S. between 1990 and 2007. During that time, an estimated 264,200 furniture tip-over related-injuries occurred, which required trips to emergency rooms. According to the study, published in Clinical Pediatrics, three-quarters of the injuries were to children 6-years-old and younger, with 1- to 3-year-olds being the most vulnerable.

A TV tip-over typically occurs when a child attempts to climb onto furniture (or into a drawer of a dresser on which a TV sits), causing the furniture and/or TV to fall onto the child. The child may also