ADVICE RATING |
 5.00 (Highly recommend) from 11 votes (75 Visits) |
Over the years I have seen several homes which are far from being child friendly - mine included. What, with my children growing up and leaving home I didn’t have to worry so much about this. Then my Grandson came along and now the parent in me has had 
an awakening.
Exposed plugs, power-points and heaters – poisons, pans on the stove and hot kettles...these are all pretty much the obvious things we look out for but what about the unobvious? What about the things that you think are unsafe or the things that don’t pose as much of a safety issue to you?
One issue I see so often is with TV sets. I have seen so many children who are allowed to go up and bang on the screen or pull themselves up using the TV cabinet or stand and for some reason I cringe at this.
Injuries stemming from TV’s tipping over have always been an issue/problem and with the big-screen TVs that are available now these injuries have increased and have also been the cause of several fatalities. Numbers which are needlessly rising...
The CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) has stated that with the prices dropping people are buying larger TVs; however, they are not buying new furniture to suit the product, leaving the TV unsecured.
According to the CPSC in 2005 there was an estimated 44,732 ‘tip-over injuries and 15 tip-over deaths. In 2006 the number of children under the age of 5 to killed by ‘television tip-overs’ had doubled by July of 2006. 10 children were killed, which is estimated to be 17 deaths a year – more than triple the average (CPSC)
In April of 2007 the Consumer Reports website stated that nine children aged 5 and below are killed a year due to furniture tipping over and that an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people, mostly of whom are children, are hurt due to people not taking the steps to prevent what is an un-necessary accident.
The Consumer Reports website provides several steps to prevent such things from happening. These include the following:
Make certain that the furniture used for your TVs is stable.
Do not place Television sets on any furniture which has drawers that can be easily opened by children and used to climb.
Ensure that your TV is positioned as far back as possible
Do not put any item that will gain your children’s attention on top of the TV as this could encourage small children to climb so as they can get it.
Do not place your remote control on the top of furniture and in sight of children as they may climb to retrieve it.
Hide any cables and/or wires
Make sure to anchor unstable furniture
The CPSC website also offers this safety alert video on furniture tipping which can be downloaded and watched.
Even if you believe your home is free of these ‘waiting to happen’ accident zones – double check, triple check – be 100% sure and don’t allow tomorrow to be the day you wish you had have checked.
Cheers and take care
OB
(February 11th) (
