Tipping Television Kills Children: CPSC Report
Televisions falling over injure 43,000 people in the U.S., about 59 percent of which are children, says a new report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The agency urged parents of young children to anchor their TV sets properly to prevent these injuries.
"We know that low-cost anchoring devices are effective in preventing tip-over incidents. I urge parents to anchor their TVs, furniture and appliances and protect their children. It takes just a few minutes to do and it can save lives," said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum.
According to the report, between the years 2000 and 2011, 349 people were killed due to televisions or furniture tipping over them. A whopping 84 percent of these victims were children who were younger than 9 years of age.
In many cases, children involved in these accidents receive blows to head as the television falls directly over them. In about 57 percent of deaths and 39 percent of injuries, the falling object had struck the victim's head.
Last year some 41 deaths related to tipping furniture/television were recorded, which is significantly higher than 31 deaths in 2010 and 27 deaths in 2009, CPSC said.
The agency noted that families often move their older, heavier television sets in the bedrooms when they purchase new flat-screen television. The older ones are kept in the bedrooms on makeshift arrangements and often left without proper anchorage supporting them. Reports show that many television related fatalities occur in bedrooms than in living rooms (40 versus 19 percent.)
A related study published in 2002 had found that a majority of television tipping related accidents occur when toddlers are left unsupervised around the television sets.