Thousands of people, many of them children, are injured every year when a piece of furniture falls on them. Falling furniture killed at least nine people last year alone. In this Consumer Watch Report, our partners at Consumer Reports tested furniture to see how stable it is, especially with little ones around.

Bob and Judy Lambert had just moved into a new home when tragedy struck. Their 3-year-old daughter; Katie, was killed when a wardrobe cabinet she was trying to open fell on top of her.

“Heard a crash and got to Katie within seconds. Saw that this piece of furniture was smashed in a thousand pieces. When I saw her under the glass, I knew that I lost my daughter,” said Katie’s mother Judy.

Consumer Reports’ Don Mays said people do not realize how easily a child can be injured.

“A young child will open up a drawer on a dresser like this to try to climb up to reach something at the top. Or they might open up all the drawers, in which case a dresser like this becomes very unstable,” said Mays.

To see how stable furniture is, Consumer Reports just assessed 19 pieces, including dressers, armoires and TV stands.

“A voluntary UL standard requires that the units remain upright when placed on a 10-degree angle and a 70-pound weight is placed on top of it to simulate a television,” said Mays.

As soon as a TV cabinet was put on the incline, it tipped with no weight at all.

A second TV stand tipped when the 70-pound weight was placed on it. Consumer Reports also evaluated several dressers and armoires to see if they met voluntary industry standards.

To test, a drawer is opened two-thirds of the way, then a 50-pound weight is lowered into the center front of it to simulate a young child climbing into the drawer. One of four dressers tipped right over. Three of the five armoires also tipped or broke.

“Plastic keychain anchors can break too easily. It’s better to use either heavy straps or metal L brackets,” said Mays.

That is what the Lamberts have used to secure their furniture to the wall, knowing all too well how quickly tragedy can strike.

“The bottom line is that you don’t want to have to say goodbye to your child in the emergency room. Things are preventable,” said Bob.

Consumer Reports says tougher standards are needed to reduce the number of injuries and deaths from furniture tip-over accidents. They say the standards should be mandatory, not voluntary.

The Lamberts are also pressing for tougher standards, having taken their case to their congressman in hopes others won’t have to endure a similar tragedy.

For more helpful consumer information, visit Consumer Reports on the web. Just click on the link: Consumer Reports. Consumer Reports is a fee-based Web site. Many of the articles require a subscription.

Source: kfoxtv.com

This entry was posted on Monday, April 3rd, 2006 at 6:19 am and is filed under Furniture. Tags: Bob Lambert, Congress, Consumer Reports, Don Mays, fee-based Web site, Furniture, Judy Lambert, Katie, metal, Small, Table, Target, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.