The popular furniture design company IKEA is issuing a safety alert to all customers who have purchased their MALM chests and dressers when they subsequently discovered that these items are extremely susceptible to tipping over if they are not properly anchored. Recently, there have been two separate incidents in which the items in question have fallen over onto children and killed them from the impact. Reports show that in February of 2014 a 2 year old child from Pennsylvania became pinned between a MALM 6 drawer chest and his bed when the item fell over on top of him. Another incident occurred in June of 2014, this time involving a 23 month old child from Washington in which a MALM 3 drawer chest tipped over. Both of these deaths could have been prevented if the items were properly secured—a fact that until now had not been made abundantly obvious to customers. This type of manufacturing negligence and defective product design can have fatal consequences. If you have been a victim of the IKEA call a Massachusetts injury attorney to fully understand what rights you may have.
Approximately seven million MALM chests and twenty million additional IKEA chests and dressers are going to be included in a repair program that is taking place nationwide, according to a statement from the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued on Wednesday. IKEA is urging their customers to immediately discontinue use of any children’s 23.5 inch tall dressers or chests as well as any adult dressers or chests that are over 29.5 inches tall if these items are not secured to a wall or sound structure.
In an effort to combat these disturbing incidents, IKEA is offering a free self-repair kit to any and all customers who are in possession of products that are within these unsafe standards. Their hope is that by spreading the word about the dangerous side effects and providing an immediate solution to the problem, they can further prevent any loss of life. The free kits provided by IKEA can be picked up in store, via a link to their online website which is as follows: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/tip_over_campaign/index.html, or by contacting the following number in order to request a free safety kit: (888) 966-4532.
Unfortunately, accidents are not 100% preventable even with precautions set into place. But decreasing the risk is always worth the investment. Something as simple as purchasing brackets to secure your furniture or television, instructing your children of the proper way to handle dressers (i.e. do not climb on them, pull on them forcefully) could make a difference. Safety should always come first in all aspects of home living.
The statement issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) also provides customers with a direct solution to the matter until they can fully address the problem, saying: “Consumers should move unanchored chests and dressers into storage or other areas where they cannot be accessed by children until the chests and dressers are properly anchored to the wall.” IKEA offered similar sentiments on the website link for their self-repair kits, stating that a child dies every two weeks due to furniture, appliances, and televisions falling over on top of them—and that furniture companies need to do more to prevent these horrible instances from occurring. Furniture tipping accidents are often to headline news but can often be very serious. Often times families don’t even know a claim for damages can be made. If you or a loved one has been injured by an IKEA MALM chest and dresser or of you have been injured by another furniture maker not properly designing their product give one of our Boston injury lawyers a call to discuss your case.
Quotes and information can be found at the following link: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/07/22/ikea-offers-free-repair-kit-for-chests-dressers-following-2-child-deaths/