Furniture-related incidents are not among the leading causes of childhood injuries in the home, leading many safety advocates to label furniture a 'hidden hazard'. In response, the American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA) created Furniture Safety Week as an industry-wide awareness campaign to shed light on these "hidden" hazards.
'Manufacturers, importers, retailers, e-commerce sites, interior designers, sales reps, and design influencers, along with trade and consumer media, all have a role to play in this effort,' explains AHFA Vice President of Communications Patricia Bowling. 'By concentrating furniture safety messages during one defined time period, we hope to amplify our voices and bring common home hazards into the open.'
The goal of Furniture Safety Week, scheduled for October 7-11, is to reduce furniture-related injuries, particularly those involving children. AHFA has invited all segments of the home furnishings industry, along with child safety advocates and organizations, to join this public conversation about furniture and home safety.
Photo: Dreamstime.
Hundreds of home furnishings companies across the United States have signed up to participate.
Topics spotlighted by this year's campaign include:
Furniture tip-over. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports that 58 children have died since 2013 when a piece of furniture tipped over on them. Another 50 died during this same time period when a TV plus the furniture it was sitting on tipped over. Together these two types of accidents result in the death of at least one child every month.
Bunk beds. An estimated 36,000 children are injured playing on or jumping off bunk beds each year, according to Nationwide Children's Hospital in Cincinnati. Boys under 6 years old are injured most often, and children under 3 are more likely to sustain serious injuries.
Reclining furniture. In the last 10 years, eight children have died and many more were injured when they became trapped in or under a reclining chair. As a result, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is calling for a new safety standard for reclining furniture.
Glass tabletops. More than 2.5 million Americans sustain injuries involving glass tabletops every year, according to a 2020 study by Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. The study of 3,000 incidents found most injuries occur among children under age 7 and young adults in their early 20s.
TV tip-over. TV tip-over fatalities have been declining due to the rising popularity of wall-mounting flat screen televisions. Within households that cannot mount, though – including many rentals – unsecured televisions remain a significant hazard. Since 2013, 40 children have died from injuries sustained when a television fell on them. As noted earlier, another 50 died when the TV plus the furniture it was sitting on fell.
Furniture Safety Week will improve consumer awareness of these and other potential home hazards and how to help prevent them.
More information:
American Home Furnishings Alliance
www.ahfa.us