The second National Furniture Safety Week is underway, with nearly 200 home furnishings companies participating.
Furniture Safety Week aims to reduce furniture-related injuries, particularly those involving children. Participation is free, and it is not too late to get involved in the 2025 campaign. AHFA has made a variety of resources available on the Furniture Safety Week pages of its Alliance4Safety.org website.
“Every segment of the home furnishings industry has a role to play in this effort,” says AHFA Vice President of Communications Patricia Bowling. “By concentrating these important furniture safety messages during this defined period each year, we can amplify our voice and raise awareness more effectively.”
Topics spotlighted by this year’s campaign include:
Furniture tip-over. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports that 58 children have died since 2013 when a piece of furniture tipped over on them. Another 50 died during this same time period when a TV plus the furniture it was sitting on tipped over. Together, these two types of accidents result in the death of at least one child every month.
Bunk beds. An estimated 36,000 children are injured playing on or jumping off bunk beds each year, according to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati. Boys under 6 years old are injured most often, and children under 3 are more likely to sustain serious injuries.
Reclining furniture. In the last 10 years, eight children have died, and many more were injured when they became trapped in or under a reclining chair. As a result, the voluntary standards organization, ASTM International, is working on a new safety specification for recliners.
Glass tabletops. More than 2.5 million Americans sustain injuries involving glass tabletops every year, according to a 2020 study by Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. The study of 3,000 incidents found that most injuries occur among children under age seven.
TV tip-over. TV tip-over fatalities have been declining due to the rising popularity of wall-mounting flat screen televisions. However, many renters cannot wall mount, so unsecured TVs remain a significant hazard. Since 2013, 40 children have died from injuries sustained when a TV fell on them. Another 50 died when a TV plus the furniture it was sitting on fell.
This year, a sixth potential hazard – secondhand furniture – has been added to the checklist. “With the impact of inflation and tariffs on an average family’s budget, it is likely more consumers will be looking at secondhand sources when shopping for furniture in the coming months,” Bowling suggests. “We’ve added a Secondhand Furniture Safety Checklist to make sure families with small children are aware of potential hazards with some types of secondhand furniture.”
The Furniture Safety Week toolkit for participants includes one social media graphic spotlighting each hazard and four additional social media posts dedicated to preventing furniture tip-overs. The toolkit also includes safety checklists that participants can share with consumers.
