TV Safety: Save Your Children From TV Tip-Overs
Before changing your lounge setting or buying a new TV, you need to know some facts. More than 340 people in the United States died between 2000 and 2017 due to TV tip-over and that too often with a piece of furniture or other accessories.
And the majority of them that is about 72% were children mostly below 6-years. As per the CSPC data, from 2015 to 2017, tip-overs cases, including TVs, resulted in nearly 8,200 injuries besides fatalities.
According to Patty Davis, acting communication director CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) in the U.S. says that about 40 kids get injured in a day in furniture or TV tip-over cases, and each month average 2-3 kids die in such incidents.
He further says that it is necessary to keep in mind that young kids take their homes as a playground. Thus television and furniture are hidden dangers in plain sight.
Causes of Tip-Over Accidents
As the bulkier CRT television sets have replaced by, the thinner LCD or LED television screens so people might think that now TV tip-overs are not so dangerous. Well, television today is indeed much lighter than old-style CRT TVs.
But, this does not mean they are light in weight, especially the jumbo size screens that most consumers usually prefer. For instance, a 65-inch TV has more than 78 pounds of weight, including its stand. Similarly, many 75-inch TV sets the weight of around 82 pounds.
The tip-over risk is high when then TV is placed on movable furniture or stand that can also tip-over. That is why homes who have young children, it is a horrible setting idea to adjust your TV on the dresser.
Children usually want to touch the figures appear on the screen, so they pull out the drawers of a dresser or jump, which causes the TV and dresser top fall over the child. In 2018, Consumer Reports tested the stability of the furniture and found major differences.
Based on the analysis and results of the CPSC data, the consumer reports called for mandatory and robust industry standards for television stands and similar furniture.
Today bigger televisions are placed on the tables, cabinets, and media consoles that were designed for smaller TV sets and replaced by bigger TVs, which made them unstable. Some modern TV stands have designs that point the legs at the boundaries of the television base.
If you place the bigger television sets on the media consoles or pedestal-style stand or tables where the feet are adjusted in the middle of the table surface makes it highly unstable for television sets.
How To Keep Children Safe From TV Tip-Over?
If you can think of bringing our child back home from school or hospital without a safety belt or ride with them on the bike without a helmet, TV tip-over is another critical issue to address to keep the child safe. It is not difficult to prevent TV tip-over.
It will be easier with basic DIY skills. Even you can improve Tip-over safety by choosing an appropriate stand for placing the TV set. For renters, they can do the same if they are not allowed to screw or hand things on the walls.
Here is how what you can do for the safety:
- Mount TV on The Wall: Properly mount the TV on the wall with lag-bolted to hefty crossbeam or stud. It will keep on enough height off the floor, and secure so young kids cannot grab.
- Anti-Tipping Straps: If it is not feasible to wall mount the TV, then use anti-tipping straps and secure it to the wall or at the back of the stand if it is not large enough.
- Get a Durable TV Stand or Furniture: Make sure the furniture you buy is of appropriate weight and size of TV as well as sturdy. Also, place the TV far back as possible, especially if anchoring the stand is not possible.
- Avoid Dressers as TVs Stands: Avoid placing TV sets on chests and dressers because kids tempting to jump on the table draws results the TV and furniture to topple.
- Organize Cable sand Cords: Make sure that electric cables and cords where the television is placed are out of the reach of children.
- Avoid Placing Kid-enticing Things on TV: Items such as iPads, DVDs, toys, or remote controls should not be placed on TV top or sides of TV stand. It encourages children to climb or jump on the unstable surfaces to get them.
- Recycle Old TVs: Instead of moving older tube TV into the kid’s room, think of DIY ideas to recycle it. Small light-weight TV is now available at very affordable prices. But remember, even if the TV is small or light-weight, it should be adequately secured.
- Rearrange Items: Use lower shelves or lower drawers to store heavy objects. It will give firm support to the base.
Wrapping Up
Obviously, it’s not possible to protect your child from everything, but from some, you can. The first thing is to educate yourself and then take the necessary steps to protect kids from the elements you can, such as TV tip-overs.
Being a parent, you have a responsibility to balance the kid’s safety and allowing them to grow, learn, and discover new things. By making their surroundings safe, they can play and enjoy a safer environment.