The recent news of three Chicago-area children fatally crushed by falling TVs has rippled far beyond their communities to help reignite the debate on TV safety. The head of a national children's safety institution declared he will launch a specialized study on the topic, and the agency that sets TV safety standards is revisiting the matter.
"It is just very sad that we continue to see needless injury, and in this case death, from TV tip-overs when we know this can be prevented," said Dr. Gary Smith, president of the Child Injury Prevention Alliance.
The nonprofit will join forces with the Ohio-based Center for Injury Research and Policy, which receives funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to embark next summer on what Smith said is the first nationwide study that will look specifically at TV-related deaths and injuries in children.
"The most important thing is to require that TVs get sold with safety devices at the point of sale," he said.
Safety experts continue to call for safety straps or anchors to keep TVs from tipping over. But manufacturers aren't required to include them, and many of the country's biggest retailers, including Best Buy and Walmart, do not sell the straps in their stores.
Underwriters Laboratories, which tests the majority of TVs on the market, is charged with setting voluntary safety standards for TVs and stands. After the first two Chicago-area TV-related deaths, UL initiated a meeting with manufacturers to revisit the standards, last revised in 2004.
Chicago Tribune
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