Kane County Health: Keep Kids Safe, Prevent Tip-Over Accidents

The Kane County Health Department provided the following information in a Monday press release. 

The Kane County Health Department, in partnership with Kane County Safe Kids and the Kane County Healthy Places Coalition, is raising awareness of the danger of tip-over accidents in the home. 

According to Safe Kids Worldwide.org, 9,000 children die in the United States every year from preventable injuries. Many more thousands are injured every day. Many of these injuries are caused by televisions or furniture tipping over on them.

Keep your child safe by protecting them from the possible risk of a television and furniture from falling down. 

Safe Kids Worldwide states that a child visits the emergency room every 45 minutes because of a TV tipping over. Prevention recommendations to keep children and all family members safe include:

• Anchor furniture to the wall or the floor.
• Place TVs on sturdy, low bases or anchor the furniture and the TV on top of it
• Keep remote controls, toys, and other items that might be attractive to children off TV stands or furniture.
• Also, make sure freestanding kitchen ranges and stoves are installed with anti-tip brackets.

In Kane County, the local libraries, in partnership with Kane County Safe Kids, have provided additional information on tip-over prevention. Visit your local Kane County library during the Week of the Young Child on April 6– 12, 2014 to learn more.

More information about this initiative can be found at the Kane County Health Department’s Healthy Places Coalition Page and the Safe Kids Worldwide website.