CPSC Adjusts Criteria for Tip-Over Injuries With Furniture in Focus as TV-Only Incidents Down

The Consumer Product Safety Commission changed criteria for categorizing tip-overs for televisions, furniture and appliances, reflecting declines in TV-only related incidents. Estimated injuries involving TVs declined significantly, with furniture-related tip-overs the "new primary focus," CPSC reported Tuesday, warning parents and caregivers about safety practices in mounting or placing new TVs, furniture and appliances in the home. Between 2000 and 2018, 459 tip-over-related deaths were reported involving those 17 years old and younger, the agency said; 93 percent involved children 5 and younger. In 55 percent of the fatalities, the child was crushed by the weight of the set, furniture or appliance. Previously, the main focus of the tip-over report was incidents involving TVs because they caused more severe injuries and more deaths than furniture alone, the commission said. The number of television-only emergency department-related tip-over injuries for all ages fell from 16,800 in 2009 to 4,300 in 2018, due largely to a decline in tip-overs involving TVs, it said. “Generally, if furniture falls holding a TV or appliance, then the appliance is also going to fall.” Tip-over incidents typically occur when children climb onto, fall against or pull themselves up on furniture, and in some cases, TVs placed atop furniture tip and cause traumatic and sometimes fatal injuries, it said. TV counts also include flat-screen sets and computer monitors. Of the annual average 5,500 TV tip-over injuries 2016-18, just over 1 percent were computer monitors.