Consumer Reports: Preventing furniture tip-overs

We have a consumer alert about a tragedy that played out at an elementary school in Florida last month. An interactive display board, similar to a flat screen TV, fell on a young student inside his classroom, killing him. Consumer reporter Nidia Hahn has renewed warnings about tip-over dangers. Zoe started opening up the drawers. When she had opened two of those little drawers on the top, the dresser came down right on her foot. The dresser nearly severed two of Zoe Brong's toes. Every year, thousands of children are rushed to the emergency room after furniture, an appliance or a television has fallen on them. Tip-overs can happen when a child tries to climb, pull, ...pull or attempts to move furniture, large appliances or televisions that are either unstable or not properly anchored to the wall. TV mounts are sold according to the maximum weight and screen size. Just because two mounts can handle the same size television, don't assume they're rated for the same weight. That can differ by brand. For maximum security, CR says to secure your TV mount to wall studs. Along with the risk of a TV being improperly mounted to a wall... Putting a TV on top of a dresser or bookshelf is never safe without properly installed safety anchors for both the TV and the piece of furniture it's sitting on. While testing anchor kits in its lab, Consumer Reports experts use a special machine to see how much force each kit can handle before breaking or detaching from the wall. Our test found that generally metal or nylon strap components drilled into wall studs performed the best. It's also important to choose an anchor design for the specific wall and stud material in your home. The Simple Mount Furniture Anti-Tip Kit performed best in CR's test on wooden studs behind drywall. If you have metal studs, CR recommends Quake Hold Furniture Securing Straps. Both products cost less than $15, a small price for peace of mind. CR recommends calling a professional for trickier surfaces like exposed brick and concrete walls. And for step-by-step instructions on anchoring furniture, we've posted a video from Consumer Reports on 6abc.com slash consumer. I'm Nydia Han, Channel 6 Action News.