Children have died after TV fell on them; check your set before Super Bowl

JERSEY CITY – Millions of people around the globe will be spending next Sunday watching the Super Bowl.
Whether their hopes are with Peyton Manning and the Broncos or Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers, chances are the last thing they will be thinking about is the safety of their television set. Yet, every 45 minutes in the United States, a child is rushed to the emergency room for injuries caused by televisions that are not appropriately secured.
In fact, in both 2012 and in 2009, toddler girls in Jersey City were killed by TV sets that fell on them in their homes. One girl was 3 and one was 13 months old.
To bring awareness to the problem and educate parents and caregivers on the simple things they can do to make their homes safer, Safe Kids New Jersey is launching National TV Safety Day on Saturday, Feb. 6, the day before Super Bowl L, the biggest TV event of the year.
“We don’t want any parent to have to endure the loss or injury of a child due to a TV tip-over” said Marissa Fisher, RN, Injury Prevention Manager for the Trauma Division at Jersey City Medical Center, a Barnabas Health facility. “National TV Safety Day is a time for families to conduct a quick TV safety check and learn what to do with older TVs that can be dangerous for young kids.”
Many TV tip-overs, said Fisher, are a result of televisions not being properly secured or placed in an unsafe location. From 2008 – 2012, 12 children in New Jersey under the age of five were killed and 33 children were hospitalized due to TV/furniture tip-overs. Nationally, nearly 2,000 children under age five visited ERs during this period due to tip-overs.
Safe Kids encourages families to include TV safety as part of their childproofing plans by placing CRT TVs on low, stable pieces of furniture. If families no longer use their CRT TV, consider recycling it. For families with flat panel televisions, Safe Kids recommends mounting TVs to the wall to reduce the risk of TV tip-overs.
“This is a time of year when many people buy new televisions because they want to watch the game at home on a large screen TV,” said Fisher. “That’s why it’s so important that the TVs are mounted properly. If you’re unsure, get professional help in installing it. You don’t want to look back and say ‘If only I had done this properly.’”