The ACCC is co-leading an international safety campaign urging parents and carers to anchor unstable furniture and large TVs to the wall to prevent infant deaths and serious injuries. The consumer watchdog is joining the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and 18 other regulators from around the world in alerting consumers to the dangers of unstable furniture and large TVs.

“Tragically, toppling furniture kills at least one child in Australia every year. Every day, around seven Australians are expected to have serious injuries requiring hospital treatment from toppling furniture,” ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard commented “All it takes is a fleeting moment for tragedy to strike so it’s very important for parents and carers to make their homes as safe an environment as possible for kids. Tip-over incidents are 100% preventable. We strongly encourage householders to check every room in their house for toppling hazards and anchor any tall or unstable furniture or large TVs. If you don’t have anchor kits, you can buy them cheaply at hardware stores or furniture retail outlets.”

Ms. Rickard explained that the ACCC and state and territory consumer safety regulators recently surveyed over 200 furniture and television retailers in six cities across Australia to determine how retailers are adopting new industry guidelines published by the National Retail Association. Rickard added that retailers should provide anchoring devices with household furniture and large TVs at the point of purchase to prevent them from toppling onto children. Our market surveillance found that only 12 per cent of retailers supplied anchors with all that furniture required them, which is not good enough, and we call on industry to make them available in every store.