Despite popularity of flat-screen sets, injuries caused by falling TVs increase

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The number of children killed or injured by falling television sets appears to have risen even as more consumers replace their clunky old TVs with lighter flat screens, studies suggest.

The reason for the rise isn’t clear but could result from traditional TV sets’ becoming heavier and, an industry official suggests, households choosing a flat screen for their main TV and relegating old sets to rickety furniture in other rooms.

A team from the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio reviewed data from 100 emergency rooms and estimated that about 14,700 furniture-related injuries occurred each year between 1990 and 2007 — almost half due to TV sets, the most common article involved in the accidents — and resulted in about 300 deaths.

The research, published in October in the journal Clinical Pediatrics, showed that the number and rate of injuries to youngsters from falling furniture increased significantly over the period. The rate generally rose from 18.8 per 100,000 people in 1990 to 22.9 in 2007, peaking at 25.7 in 2004.

A similar report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission last year estimated 42,700 injuries and 180 deaths associated with appliance, furniture and television instability and tip-overs from 2000 to 2006; 87 of the deaths involved televisions. The number rose from seven in 2000 to 23 in 2006.

Several children have been killed or injured in recent weeks alone. A 2-year-old New Jersey boy died Dec. 7 when he tipped over a chest of drawers holding a large TV set. A 10-month-old Philadelphia boy was critically injured Dec. 10 when a television fell onto him. An 11-month-old Phoenix girl died a month ago after her 2-year-old brother pulled a television off its stand while trying to change the channel.

Other recent accidents killed a 6-year-old California girl and seriously injured a 3-year-old in Florida.

“Every day, in this country, about 40 young children are rushed to emergency departments with injuries after a heavy piece of furniture has fallen on them,” said Gary Smith, director of the Ohio injury research center and a member of the team that conducted the study. “This is not a small problem; it’s a common problem, and it’s increasing.”

Many of the injuries have involved heavy standard cathode-ray tube TVs, which are weighted to the front and can be tipped forward by a child, said Arlene Flecha, spokeswoman for the safety commission, which is doing another study following up on furniture injuries to gain more details, such as the types of televisions involved.