In the United States, a child dies about every 11 days when a TV, furniture, or appliance falls on them.  14,000 children are injured every year. About 70 percent of tip-over fatalities involve children ages 1 1/2 to 3 years old and these incidents are preventable.   The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) Anchor It! Campaign educates parents and caregivers that anchoring is simple, inexpensive and important.  These tips and resources from the campaign show how to prevent tip-overs to help you create a home and child-care space that is babyproofed from furniture being pulled over.

Here’s how to Prevent Tip-Overs

• Anchor all furniture, dressers, armoires, and bookshelves to the wall.
• Secure TVs to the wall or base/TV stand and recycle older, unused TVs
• Check for and act on recalls of products that present tip-over hazards
• Watch this video demonstration to learn more about how tip-overs happen as well as how to easily install anti-tip devices (also known as anchors).

Be sure to anchor before your baby arrives or before s/he becomes mobile. Babies begin to crawl as early as 6 months and they may be “grabbing” well before then.  “The to-do list when a new baby arrives can feel overwhelming. It doesn’t matter whether you anchor furniture and TVs before baby arrives or once they start to sit up and become mobile – the important thing is getting it done. Anchoring furniture and TVs is fairly inexpensive and simple to do – even when you’re sleep-deprived.  Anchoring only takes about five minutes, and it could save your child’s life.”  

Meghan DeLong’s 2-year-old son passed away on Mother’s Day 2017 when his dresser tipped over on him.  Meghan is now the Founder and President of Conner’s Legacy Foundation, Inc. The mission of the organization is to promote education, advocacy, and resources for the awareness of furniture tip-over prevention at the community level and the national level by sharing Conner’s story, providing community outreach and education, and encouraging mandatory regulation standards for furniture. 

Keep your child, and those in your care, safe by following the guidelines laid out by the CPSC and the suggestions of Connor’s Legacy Foundation. You can click the graphic to print out your own Anchor It poster. For more babyproofing info please visit our blog about How to Create a Safe Nursery.