Most homeowners with children often try to childproof their home to a certain extent. Whilst it’s true that you can’t completely prevent mishaps from occuring in the home, many of us feel that it is necessary to do what’s required to prevent the obvious ones.
However, have you wondered how dangerous your flat screen TVs can be to children and other home occupants? Read on for some eye-opening stats
Nearly 17,000 children were admitted to hospitals in 2007 due to injuries caused by falling furniture - of which, close to half of these cases involved falling TVs.
TVs these days are getting cheaper and larger but the stands on which they are placed on continue to be narrow and small. These top-heavy flat screen TVs are often balanced precariously and the recent trend of wall-hanging TV cabinets only add to the risks involved. The reason why CRTs did not contribute much to these statistics is due to its blocklike design which takes up a large footprint.
Three-quarters of the victims of falling furniture are younger than 6 years old, and children that age “simply don’t recognize the danger of climbing on furniture,” said Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
These stats reflect what’s going on in America. In truth, the figures could be even uglier.
Samantha Brinkley’s 4 year old daughter was killed when their 27″ flat screen TV fell on her
How is How’sHouse mitigating the risk of falling TVs?
I currently have 2 LCDs at my place. I decided to pay for good quality brackets and have them professionally installed upon purchase. Being a bit anal, I did my part to stress test the workmanship and the quality of the installation. So far so good - 1.5yrs now and still hanging on (as it should). However, having recently been blessed with our firstborn, I’d try my best to make sure that baby Ryan won’t be playing directly under or close to the TVs later on when he’s able to move around on his own. I don’t plan to have any other heavy objects hung up or set in high places in the home.
I hope this article serves to make sure you’re mindful not only of flat screen TVs but the risk of large furniture potentially causing injury to the occupants of your home.
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