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IKEA hands out “wall-anchors” after children died under falling chests of
Posted On Jul 23 2015
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The children died after “Malm” dressers tipped over and fell on top of them.
A two-year-old boy in West Chester, Pennsylvania, was fatally pinned against his bed in February 2014 after a Malm six-drawer chest fell on him, the agency and Ikea say, and a 23-month old boy from Snohomish, Washington, died after being trapped beneath a three-drawer Malm chest when it tipped over.
The CPSC warns customers “should immediately stop using all Ikea children’s chests and dressers taller than 23.5 inches and adult chests and dressers taller than 29.5in, unless they are securely anchored to the wall”.
‘Should any customer be concerned about their furniture, they are welcome to contact us on 0203 6450010 to request a free restraint kit if the original one was disposed of.’.
IKEA North America is now offering free wall-anchoring kits after the safety alert, the commission said in a statement.
The MALM chest range went on sale in 2002 and cost between $80 and $200.
Since 1989, Ikea was aware of three additional reports of deaths from tip-overs involving other models of its chests and dressers, the CPSC said. The kit will be available to consumers who bought 27 million chests and dressers above specific heights, including 7 million of Ikea’s Malm chests.
IKEA United Kingdom and Ireland have launched a safety awareness campaign following the issues in the U.S. and that the best way to prevent accidents is to secure the furniture to the wall.
Consumers are being asked to inspect their furniture to ensure they are securely anchored to the wall.
“IKEA is committed to raising awareness of the hazard of furniture tip over and in many IKEA markets, including the United Kingdom, we are running a safety awareness campaign called ‘Safer Homes together – Secure it!’ in order to raise awareness of this issue”.
He said Ikea already provided restraints and instructions with all floor-standing units, and warnings about their importance were included in the assembly instructions.
