Many Tennessee parents may not even realize it, but there are thousands of children every year who are seriously injured by television sets. With many families having more than one TV in their home, the overall number of children injured by television sets is also on the rise. These injuries are typically caused by children colliding with TVs and TVs toppling over on top of children.
According to a recent study, more than 17,000 children are injured every year by television sets. This means that a child is injured by a TV once every half an hour.
Of those hurt, the majority of accidents result in cuts and soft-tissue damages. Young children, however, are more susceptible to head injuries, with 13 percent of injuries to children under the age of 5 being concussions and bumps to the head. For older children, head bumps and concussions make up 7 percent of television set-related injuries.
In looking at these accidents, a spokesperson for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said 45 percent of children deaths from TVs tipping over and furniture tipping over happens in bedrooms and basements. A lot of times this is due to the fact that the bigger and more box-like TVs once in living rooms are being replaced with flat screens. These boxy ones are then getting put in bedrooms and basements where there is not as much adult supervision.
Many times, parents also put these older TVs on top of dressers that are not intended to hold TVs. Some children will then pull out the draws to use as steps to climb to the top of the dresser where the TV is. This can lead to a tip-over accident.
This most likely has a lot to do with why there has been a 125 percent increase in children injuries caused by falling TVs. The number of injuries caused by children running into TVs has dramatically decreased over the past 22 years.