The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents is urging people to take care with large flat-screen televisions to head off a similar rise in injuries to that reported in the US.
Sales of such televisions have increased in recent years. Now, in the run up to Christmas, and with the digital switchover and next year’s World Cup likely to further increase their popularity, RoSPA is raising awareness of the need to ensure that television sets cannot be easily pulled over by children. Thought also needs to be given to the walls on which it is suitable to attach flat-screen televisions.
A study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio, USA, found that from 1990-2007, an average of nearly 15,000 under-18s visited emergency departments annually for injuries received from furniture “tip-overs”.
According to the study, which was published in an American paediatrics journal (Clinical Pediatrics) earlier this year, three-quarters of the injuries occurred among children under the age of seven-years-old and nearly half resulted from televisions tipping over. More than a quarter of the injuries happened when children pulled over or climbed on furniture. The study found that there was more than a 40 per cent increase in furniture tip-over injuries during the study period, and that the injury rate also rose.
Errol Taylor, RoSPA’s deputy chief executive, said: “From time to time, RoSPA believes it is important to raise awareness of the potential for accidents to happen before an injury trend emerges in the UK. In this instance, we have taken note of the findings of US research which studied a huge number of furniture tip-over cases from an 18-year period. Not only did the research find that the number of such injuries had increased, but that televisions were the most commonly-involved item of furniture.
“With flat-screen televisions becoming increasingly popular and many families likely to have a new set for Christmas, now is a crucial time to talk about safety. We urge people to ensure that free-standing television sets cannot be easily pulled over by children and that wall-mounted sets are securely fixed to walls which are strong enough to hold them.”
The UK’s own home accident database was closed in 2002, before the surge in flat-screen popularity. However, data from the last year of the system reveals that around 9,300 people had to go to hospital after television-related home accidents, of whom 2,300 were children under the age of five-years-old. The most common television-related accident involving under-fives was being struck by a falling television set.
In the UK since July 2008, RoSPA is aware of four reported fatalities in which children, aged from 13 months to four-years-old, have died as a result of televisions falling on them. Although one case was reported to have involved a flat-screen television, it is not clear whether the others involved flat-screens or more traditional television sets.
To prevent children being injured in television-related accidents, RoSPA recommends that: - Free-standing, flat-screen televisions are placed on a wide, stable, manufacturers’ base (designed to accompany the television), which reduces the risk of the screen toppling forwards. In addition, tethering straps should run from the top of the back of the screen to a stable anchoring point, such as a wall-mounted bracket
- Wall-mounted televisions are securely fixed to solid walls. Where internal walls are made of plasterboard, the fixing brackets should be attached to underlying wooden studs. If in any doubt about this, make use of the services of a skilled tradesperson or qualified installer
- As much as possible, children are kept out of the way while bulky, heavy objects, such as televisions, are being moved
- Children - particularly toddlers – are discouraged from pulling themselves up by holding on to a television set or furniture on which a television sits, or from climbing over a television.
With regards to the absence of up-to-date UK-wide injury data, RoSPA is delighted to be involved in a Department of Health-funded pilot project which is being carried out by the South West Public Health Observatory in Bristol, together with emergency departments in Exeter, Oxford and London. The project is exploring the relative merits of various types of injury data collection methods. For more information, see www.rospa.com/hassandlass/update.htm
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ADDRESS FLAT-SCREEN TV SAFETY
