Full Notification

On Wednesday April 21, 2016, Montclair PD and Montclair Fire responded to a residence regarding a 2 year old child who was severely injured by a falling CRT (old glass-style) television, which had fallen from a dresser. The child was airlifted to a regional hospital and is fighting for their life.

Despite public warnings, a recent study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery Pediatrics found the number of injuries from falling televisions are on the rise, with a child being brought into an emergency room related to a furniture and/or television fall incident every 24 minutes. The most common age for injury is between one and three years old. Another study by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission revealed from 2011 to 2013, an average of 11,000 children under age 18 were treated in emergency rooms for injuries involving TVs or injuries involving both televisions and furniture.

A big part of the problem is families moving older sets onto pieces of furniture that were not designed to hold the television, and the furniture becomes unbalanced. It is not unusual for a curious child to climb furniture, and this leads to a perfect storm. The study found a heavy CRT television falling just one meter onto a child is the equivalent to the child falling from a ten-story building.

There are several things parents or caregivers of small children can do to prevent these types of tragedies. The most important, of course is supervision. Proper disposal or recycling of old, heavy CRT televisions is no longer prohibitive, and many communities have curbside collection, or special e-waste recycling days. Televisions should be wall mounted, or if not possible, placed with other heavy items on lower or more stable furniture. Anchoring the television to the wall or furniture with straps or cables are low-cost options available at many stores which sell electronics, and only take a few minutes to install.

These are just a few simple steps we can take to prevent a tragic incidents like this one from occurring. If you would like additional information on child safety tips, please contact the Montclair Police Department.