Nearly half of the injuries — 46 percent — were from a television sliding off a dresser, while 31 percent were from a television falling off an entertainment center or TV stand, the study found.
The most common injuries from television accidents are lacerations, concussions and soft tissue injuries, according to the study, while children younger than 5 years old, particularly boys, were the most likely to be injured.
What can parents do?
To help prevent potential accidents and injuries, researchers recommend that parents secure their televisions to help prevent children from tipping them over. In addition, remote controls and toys should not be placed on top of televisions or the furniture they sit on, which will help prevent children from being tempted to climb on them.
“The type of furniture involved is implicated more,” the authors of the study say. “We suspect that as parents purchase a new TV, and now that tends to be a flat screen, the older TV gets moved to another part of the home, often placed in an unsafe position, such as on a dresser or bureau, which was never designed to support a TV. Children can pull dresser drawers open to use as stairs to help them reach the TV, potentially pulling both the dresser and TV over on top of them. That’s why we’re telling parents that it’s very important if they purchase a TV that it must be anchored to the wall, whether it’s a flat screen or a CRT, and the furniture should be designed to support it, and it should be anchored to the wall as well.”
Televisions & Your Child: The Shocking New Danger was originally published on blackdoctor.org
