As child injury attorneys, we know that unstable furniture can topple over and hurt children. One of the most common types of injury is from television sets since nearly every family owns one. According to Safe Kids USA, one child dies every three weeks in the US from a TV tipping over, and nearly 13,000 more are injured. There is a huge increase in this kind of accident, and because of this, we would like to bring attention to the risk and give parents some tips on how to protect their kids from the same type of tragedy.
The Statistics
Here are some statistics about television tip-overs that parents should know:
According to the report, young children under the age of 5 are at the greatest risk of injury from televisions tipping over.
Head injuries and serious injuries requiring hospitalization are most common for the younger children.
Every 45 minutes, a child is injured from a television tipping over.
Most parents do not secure televisions to the wall.
Our Tips to Keep Your Child Safer
While there is no way to prevent all accidents, there are a few things you can do to make your child and your home a little safer. You can also ask friends and family to do the same things in their homes, especially if your children will be visiting them.
Secure all furniture that can topple, including televisions, armoires, dressers, and mirrors to the wall.
Crawl around on the floor at the height of your child and pull on all furniture and other items. If you can make them wiggle, your child can too. Secure them immediately.
Do not place heavy, unsecured objects on top of furniture.
Remove all cords, ropes or items that the child can pull on, causing something to fall down.
Contact a Personal Injury Attorney
The Husband and Wife Law Team at Breyer Law Offices has children of their own. We work hard to represent families who are grieving the loss or injury of a child because of a preventable accident. Contact us today to discuss the facts about your case.