The terrible truth about toppling televisions

To determine the profile of children's injuries resulting from television tipovers and to evaluate the potential in a paediatric health centre for television sets to be tipped by young children.

The present study was conducted by case report review, a retrospective audit of a regional subset of the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program database, and prospective testing of all child-accessible television sets for potential tipping using a static model of a climbing child.

Children attending the emergency department of a regional paediatric health centre who reported injuries resulting from a television tipover to the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program were studied. All child-accessible television sets within the same regional paediatric health centre were included in the study.

The main study outcome measures were the demographics and profile of television tipover injuries encountered, and the failure rate of child-accessible televisions to maintain stability when tested using a static model of a climbing child (four years of age at the 90th weight percentile).

At least 104 children reported injuries related to televisions tipovers between 1990 and 2002. The majority occurred in two-to four-year-old children, and 61% occurred in boys. The most common areas to be injured were the head and neck. Within the hospital, 90% of child-accessible televisions were tippable by children four years of age or younger.

Television tipovers have the potential to cause significant childhood injuries. Because television sets were not safely maintained within one paediatric health centre, one can only speculate about television safety in homes. Parents need to be educated about this injury risk, and standards for the anchoring of televisions are needed.