Counsel Parents to Secure Big Screens Before the Big Game

Michael Gerchufsky, CMPP, ELS, is the managing editor of Consultant for Pediatricians and PediatricsConsultant360.com. E-mail him with thoughts on this post at editor@pediatricsconsultant360.com, or post comments directly below.

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A child is rushed to the emergency department every 45 minutes in the United States for treatment of injuries caused by TVs that are not appropriately secured, according to Safe Kids New Jersey. To help prevent these TV tip-overs, the group is is launching National TV Safety Day on February 1, 2014, the day before Super Bowl XLVIII.

The campaign aims to educate parents and caregivers about the simple things they can do to make their homes safer.

Many tip-overs are a result of TVs not being properly secured or being placed in an unsafe location. The group reports that from 2008 to 2012, 12 children in New Jersey younger than 5 years old were killed and 33 children were hospitalized as a result of tip-overs of TVs or other furniture. Nearly 2,000 children under 5 visit the ED each year during around Super Bowl Sunday because of tip-overs, the group says. 

Top tips for parents, from the Safe Kids New Jersey site:

• Secure your TV. If you have an older CRT TV, make sure you place it on a low, stable and secured piece of furniture that is appropriate for the TV’s size and weight.

• Recycle your TV. To find a location to safely and easily recycle unwanted TVs, go to http://www.GreenerGadgets.org.

• If you’re replacing your CRT TV with a new TV, be sure it’s properly secured.

Safe Kids New Jersey, led by the Central Jersey Family Health Consortium and founded by Johnson & Johnson, is one of more than 600 grassroots coalitions in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico that bring together health and safety experts, educators, corporations, foundations, governments and volunteers to educate and protect families.