Parents should always be concerned with their child’s safety, which is why being aware of recall notices is so important. Recalls are issued when there is a possibility or risk for injury or death to consumers who use certain products.
After 12 reports of dressers sold at Target tipping over or collapsing were received, two of whom were three years old, Target issued a recall.
No injuries have been reported to date, and hopefully, by following the below recall instructions, none will.
The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission asks that consumers return the dressers to the store for a full refund. Their website states: “The recalled dressers are unstable if they are not anchored to the wall, posing serious tip-over and entrapment hazards that can result in death or injuries to children.”
Target reports that 175,000 of these dressers were sold in the U.S. with an additional 3,000 sold in Canada.
Its important to note that with any piece of furniture, especially ones that a child may climb on and that could tip over, using safety precautions such as anchoring the furniture to a wall is so necessary.
Anchor It! says that a child is injured every 30 minutes from a television or other furniture tipping over, and every two weeks a child dies by furniture landing on top of them. In most of the cases, these injuries are head injuries.
However, we can prevent these injuries by taking a few minutes to properly secure furniture to a nearby wall. Follow manufacturers’ instructions, purchase anti-tip devices and always be sure that furniture is sturdy enough for what you’re using it for – i.e. only place televisions on tables or stands designed to hold a television.
Children really love to climb, however, we can minimize the temptation to climb on unsafe furniture or heights by not placing objects that the child would want to climb on top of shelves or dressers.
Try to keep toys, books and other items in more easily accessible places for children. For other items that you do want to keep out of reach, use cupboards with safety latches instead, or store them on secure surfaces out of reach of children.
Try and teach your children not to climb on furniture. (It’s not that easy, we know) but warn them that they could become trapped or injured. You can’t teach very young kids this, but you can work to help them understand and hopefully as they get older, it’s still important to teach them not to climb on furniture.
There are a number of dangers in the home – burns while cooking, drowning in the bathtub, fire, etc. however most of these are preventable.
Keep items such as pot handles turned inward and out of reach of little hands, never leave a young child alone in the tub and install smoke and carbon dioxide detectors in the home.
Properly securing anchors to furniture is ultimately the best way to prevent furniture from tipping onto children and injuring or killing your child.
Do not risk your child’s safety; rather take the small amount of time necessary to make your home safer.