You may have seen news stories about children who wind up in the hospital with head injuries caused by heavy TV sets that have fallen right on top of them.
Flat-screen TVs fall so easily that your children could be at risk. Rosie’s advice: Don’t hang yours on the wall yourself. It will cost you about $450 to hire a certified installer to properly hang the TV set on a sturdy mount right in the center of a stud so it won’t fall, and also to run unsightly cables and cords (except the power cord) behind the wall so nobody can see them, or yank on them and put themselves at risk for a head injury.
In 2006, 10 children died after TV sets fell on them; the year before, such accidents sent 2,600 little ones to the emergency room. Don’t let someone in your family become a statistic.
It’s not just flat-screen sets that have injured children, however. All TVs are top-heavy and should be securely anchored wherever you place them. Here are some tips for keeping your family safe:
- When you buy your TV, buy the stand that goes with it, the one designed by the same manufacturer. And buy the hardware you need to anchor the TV to that stand or to the wall. If the TV needs a base, have it attached at the store by someone who is trained to do it right.
- Check the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Web site before you buy a product that claims it will anchor your television set. Many such products have been recalled.
- If you replace a small TV with a larger one, buy a new stand. You need one that can hold the weight of the new set.
- Then anchor the TV to that stand, and anchor the stand to the wall. Don’t drill holes in the TV set to accomplish this, though; you could ruin it. Buy a product designed for anchoring TV sets.
- Place a non-skid mat, like the one you have in your bathtub under your TV set so it won’t slip or slide from a cabinet shelf or TV stand.
- Locate your TV set out of your children’s reach, and keep furniture away from it so they can’t climb up and pull it down. Clear toys and remote controls away from the set so your children have no reason to reach for the TV.
