IKEA issued a recall last week for 29 million dressers that can tip over. And if you’ve bought one from them in the last decade, you can probably get a refund.
But around 25,000 kids are injured by falling furniture every year. So here are five safety tips you should know about if you have children . . .
1. If you think something might tip, bolt it to the wall. If you don’t want to get rid of your IKEA dresser, they’ll send you a wall anchor for it. And for other furniture, just ask about wall anchors at a place like Home Depot.
2. Don’t put TVs on something that’s tall but not wide. Between 2000 and 2013, 430 kids in the U.S. were killed by falling furniture. And falling TVs accounted for about 65% of them. So either mount it on the wall, or put it somewhere else.
3. Don’t leave toys on top of furniture that might tip. A lot of injuries to kids happen when they see something they want, and try to climb the furniture to get to it.
4. Use drawer stops, so they can’t pull the drawers out the whole way. And don’t put a bunch of heavy stuff in the top drawer. You want it to be bottom heavy, not top heavy.
5. Make sure electrical cords are out of reach. Another way kids knock furniture over is by yanking on power strips and extension cords that are sticking out from behind it.
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