Many homes across the country are now chockful of televisions. Wheres the television used to be the focal point of the living room, the relative low cost of even flat screen models compared to years past means that it’s not uncommon to see a screen in every room of the home.
This can be dangerous if those televisions are placed on unstable surfaces, especially if you have children that could be tempted to climb furniture and send a television tumbling off its perch. Safe Kids Worldwide has released a safety bulletin in conjunction with the Consumer Electronics Association, and you would do well to understand some of the insights available.
First off, if you ever upgrade a television to a newer unit, think long and hard about recycling the older tv rather than placing it in another room. The concern is that most older televisions get relegated to something like a dresser that was not designed to hold a television that could easily tip. Recycling can help improve safety, as can making sure that every tv in the home is properly anchored or fastened to the wall.
The lower you keep the television, the better, especially if there’s plenty of surface area that would prevent the tv from falling off its ledge. That way, if a child pulls on it, it will fall a short distance. If the tv is placed up high, make sure there’s nothing around that a kid could climb on.