In CR’s survey, conducted in June 2021, less than a third—30 percent—of Americans said they had anchored any furniture in their home. Anchoring is more common in homes with children under age 6: 45 percent of people with kids under that age at home say they have at least one piece of furniture anchored. This latest survey is consistent with one we conducted in 2018 that also showed a majority of Americans don’t anchor their furniture.
Of those who didn’t anchor their furniture, 45 percent said they thought the furniture seemed stable, 41 percent said kids in their home are not left unattended around furniture, and more than half—56 percent—of people without children under 6 in the home said they didn’t feel they needed to because they did not have young children in the home.
But safety advocates say people shouldn’t assume tip-overs are just a problem with kids.
“Dressers have tipped and caused injury and death to older adults, not just children,” says Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids In Danger, a nonprofit advocacy organization focused on product safety. “And if children do visit your home, it is unlikely anyone will think to protect against furniture tip-over at that time.”
Indeed, there is no way to supervise children 24/7, and many fatal tip-overs have occurred after children were put to bed alone to sleep in a bedroom with a dresser their caregiver assumed was safe.
Another reason people don’t anchor their furniture is problems with installing the anchors: 29 percent said they don’t want to (or can’t) put holes in their wall, 13 percent that they don’t want to (or can’t) put holes in their furniture, 18 percent that the furniture didn’t come with anchoring hardware, 14 percent that they are unsure of the location of a wall stud, 13 percent that they’re unsure how to properly install the anchoring hardware, and 5 percent that the furniture is next to a wall unsuitable for anchoring, like brick or stone.
“It’s clear anchoring is not a viable solution, for many reasons,” says Amato, who is also a founding member of the advocacy group Parents Against Tip-Overs.
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August 28, 2021 at 05:06PM
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Two-Thirds of Americans Don't Anchor Their Furniture - ConsumerReports.org
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