Thousands of children are injured in furniture tip-overs, according to data from emergency rooms

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Consumer Product Safety Commission examined data from emergency departments around the country and found a surprisingly high number of children continue to be seriously injured from furniture tipping over on them.

“As of 2022, there were nearly 18,000 people who went to the emergency room with tip-over injuries and about 40% of that number were children,” said Pamela Springs with the CPSC.

The report found 6,400 children were treated in the emergency department for tip-overs:

• 2,400 (38%) involved a table
• 1,800 (28%) involved a chest, bureau, or dresser
• 1,000 (16%) involved shelving, a shelving unit, or a bookcase
• 1,200 (18%) involved all other furniture (including cabinets and stands)

“It can have the force of a 10-pound ball on a child's head,” said Springs. “It's easy to avoid these tragedies.”

Since 2015 the CPSC has used its ‘Anchor It!’ campaign, working with families whose children were injured or killed from furniture tip-overs.

“We have heartbreaking videos of children climbing on dressers and the whole dresser tips over on them. We want to avoid that.”

The CPSC was instrumental in passing a law that requires manufacturers to make safer clothing storage units but ask parents to take further action by securing home furniture.

“Tip over kits, generally are coming with televisions and they're coming with new furniture, especially after the Sturdy Act passed last year.”

STURDY stands for Stop Tip-overs of Unstable, Risky Dressers on Youth.

The CPSC was instrumental in passing the law which requires manufacturers to make safer clothing storage units.

While the CPSC, found tip-over incidents are trending down, it’s latest data shows every 53 minutes a child is treated in an emergency department for tip-over incidents.

“This is a very solvable problem,” said Springs.

"For 20 minutes and $20, you can anchor furniture to the wall and have that peace of mind knowing that it won't tip over.”

Here is the CPSC latest report: 2023 Annual Tip-Over Report (cpsc.gov)