Protect Yourself and Your Loved Ones from Deadly Furniture Tip-Overs

11 min read

An increasing number of older adults are being injured and killed due to furniture, TV, and appliance tip-overs.

A recent federal law requires dressers and certain other clothing storage furniture manufactured after Sept. 1, 2023, to meet stringent stability tests and come with a furniture anchor.

The only way to prevent a potentially deadly tip-over: properly secure furniture with drawers, doors, and shelves, TVs, and appliances to the wall.

If you have furniture, a television, or an appliance in your home right now, you have something that could cause serious injuries or even death if it’s not properly anchored to the wall. They are all dangers hidden in plain sight.

The reality is that everyone has furniture and at least one television and appliance in their home.

The simple truth is that if they are not secured to the wall, especially furniture with drawers, doors, and shelves, they can become unstable and tip over and in the blink of an eye seriously injure or kill a child or even you!

The statistics tell us it can and does happen every day. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, someone is rushed to the ER every hour because of injuries caused by a furniture, TV, or appliance tip-over.

The only way to protect those you love, including yourself, from a potentially deadly tip-over is to properly secure your furniture, TVs, and appliances to the wall.

Unfortunately, the latest annual report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on Tip-Overs revealed an alarming increase in the number of older adults who are being injured and killed by tip-overs. The data also tell us that the majority of older adults who were killed by a tip-over died from a dresser or chest of drawers falling on them.

Tip-overs are a rapidly emerging health hazard for older adults, but one that is easy to protect yourself from.

These statistics are minimum estimates as we also know a significant number of tip-over incidents go unreported. Most people, including doctors, don’t know why reporting even minor injuries from a tip-over is important or how or where to do so. We also know there are a lot of near misses that go unreported.

Reporting tip-over incidents, even when no one was hurt, is important because it lets the CPSC and manufacturers know their furniture became unstable and is unsafe. Reporting tip-overs, or any other product safety hazard is easy. Visit www.saferproducts.gov or reach out to the CPSC Consumer Ombudsman directly. You can also search the site for other reports made about the products in your home.

If I asked you what might cause a piece of furniture to tip over, what would you say? Do you think it is only lightweight or cheaply made furniture? Is it only tall furniture? Is it only furniture with certain kinds of legs? Is it only furniture made by certain manufacturers? Is it because the floor is uneven? Is it because it’s heavy? Is it because a child climbed on it? Something else?

I can tell you exactly why tip-overs happen. Physics.

Tip-over facts:

This is why it’s so important to “seatbelt” your furniture to the wall. It’s the best way to protect you from an unexpected tragedy.

I share this information with you so you never have to experience my pain. My beautiful 3-year-old twin daughter Meghan was killed when her small, heavy, well-made dresser fell on her in the early morning while the rest of our family slept on Dec. 18, 2004.

The day she died, I made a promise to her, that she’d be the last one to die this way. And yet hundreds have died since, and hundreds of thousands more have been injured as a result of furniture and/or televisions falling on them.

A lot of work has been done since then by parent advocates like myself through Meghan’s Hope and the organization I co-founded, Parents Against Tip-Overs (PAT), along with collaboration with furniture manufacturers, retailers, and consumer and child safety and advocacy organizations since then, focused on making dressers and other clothing storage furniture more stable and less likely to fall on and injure or kill a small child.

After nearly two decades of advocacy and engaging with all the stakeholders, we finally passed federal legislation in December of 2022, and the STURDY Act became law. It went into effect on Sept. 1, 2023, and requires that certain dressers and other types of furniture used for storing clothes pass several stringent stability tests before they can be sold in the U.S. It also requires that the clothing storage furniture come with furniture anchors. It’s designed to protect children up to 6 years old.

Unfortunately, it does not apply to other types of furniture, nor is it designed to protect older children or adults. There are millions of at-risk dressers and other furniture with drawers, doors, and shelves in homes today that could become deadly if not properly anchored to the wall.

You wouldn’t think of getting into a car without fastening your seatbelt, right? It’s just as important to fasten your furniture to the wall with a furniture anchor. Furniture anchors, also called furniture straps or “anti-tip” devices, are like seatbelts for your furniture. They are just as important to keeping you and your family safe as a seatbelt in a car is.

Securing furniture and TVs to the wall is easy and relatively quick. For less than $20 and about 20 minutes, you can install a strong and effective furniture anchor to prevent a deadly tip-over. Visit the CPSC’s Anchor It! Website to learn how to properly anchor your furniture to the wall.

It’s important to know not all furniture anchors are created equally, so how do you choose?

Choosing the best furniture anchors

You can help save lives by sharing this important safety information with your friends and family.Tip-overs pose a danger to people of all ages, but especially the very young and those over the age of 60. With more and more families living in multi-generational homes, being proactive about securing furniture, TVs and appliances to the wall will give you peace of mind and prevent the unthinkable from happening to you or someone you love. If you don’t feel comfortable installing the furniture anchors, ask a friend or family member or hire a handyman to help.

Please, #AnchorIt today!

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