What are "tip-over injuries," and how can we protect our children from them? Although when we think of defective product, we often think of hair dryers that cause fires or toys that contain choking hazards, products that can injure our families may look completely harmless.

New Study Shows Unstable TV, Furniture, and Appliances Can Be Unseen Dangers in the Home

What are "tip-over injuries," and how can we protect our children from them? Although when we often think of defective product, we think of hair dryers that cause fires or toys that contain choking hazards, products that can injure our families may look completely harmless.

In a new study published by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), researchers found that tip-over injuries are one of the top five hidden home hazards for children. In fact, the report says that at least 180 tip-overs led to deaths between 2000 and 2006 and that in 2006 there was a minimum of 40 reports of television-related tip-over deaths.

The rise in tip-over deaths is somewhat related to the increasing popularity of flat screen TVs, which are often top-heavy and prone to falling over. Other tip-over deaths involve television stands, bookcases, shelves, desks, chests, dressers, and even stove or over doors.

"Tip-over related deaths continue to be a problem. These tragedies can be prevented by taking precautions," said Acting Chairman Nancy Nord in a press release put out by the CPSC this week.

The CPSC also offered some safety advice to those wishing to avoid a tip-over tragedy in their own houses.

Affix everything that you can to a wall - many bookshelves and other furniture includes a bracket and screw that you can use to anchor heavy and unstable pieces of furniture to the wall.
Make sure that your television is on an appropriately sturdy and large TV stand. Also, push the TV as far back as possible from the front of the stand.
Remove tempting items from the top of TVs and furniture that may tempt a child to climb to get it - toys and remote controls should not be placed on top of the TV, for example.
Make sure that your children do not have access to appliance electrical cords and make sure that when they are old enough they understand the implications of playing with them.
Crawl around your house so that you can see everything from your child's perspective. See how stable your furniture is by pulling on it yourself.

Most importantly, if your child has been involved in a tip-over accident, make sure that you seek legal advice. Not only might you receive much-needed compensation for the accident, but you can also alert the manufacturer of the problem and prevent other children from getting injured in the same way.