Save a Child's Life: Prevent Furniture Tip-Overs 
Today, Katie Elise Lambert (that’s her over there on the left) would be 8 1/2 years old … the same age as my son. As a matter of fact, they were born only 3 days apart in June of 2001. However, this year Katie won’t be celebrating her 9th birthday like my boy will. Five years ago today, Katie Elise Lambert died when an unsecured piece of furniture in a home she and her family were moving into fell on her, crushing her and killing her.
So when I see forum posts like this one, where a member asks whether furniture safety straps are necessary, I get a bit of a lump in my throat. I didn’t know this child, Katie, but one of our long-term members and moderators knew the family. He’s shared his grief over this incident and his anger over preventable accidents is understandable.
These warnings are not just for folks in earthquake zones, although certainly the risks there are greater. Children can accidentally pull a piece of furniture over on themselves while attempting to reach something on a high shelf, or they might just enjoy climbing up a ‘ladder’ of drawers. Children don’t perceive risks – they just act. It’s your job to protect them by securing furniture that could topple.
PLEASE READ ON…
Prevent Furniture Tip-Over
Katie’s parents started the Katie Elise Lambert Foundation in order to ‘educate the public on the potential hazard of falling furniture and to help ensure and protect the safety of all children both inside and outside the home.’ Together with Kim Pickard, mother of Meghan Agnes Beck, who was killed by a falling dresser on December 18th, 2004 (see Meghan’s Hope), the Lamberts have pursued the passage of legislation to mandate furniture manufacturers to put warnings on furniture, much like the warnings printed on plastic bags and provide safety straps to prevent accidental tip-over. Warnings would instruct consumers about the dangers of furniture tip-over and would provide necessary materials to secure furniture to walls.
Spread the Word
Today, I’m standing up for Katie and Meghan and asking you to spread the word about the dangers of furniture tip-overs, and the necessity of securing furniture to the walls. ALL pieces of furniture, such as dressers, filing cabinets, bookcases, CD or DVD towers, credenzas, sideboards, secretaries can be a tip-over risk, as can electronics such as televisions, particularly the large-screen TVs that are so common today.
If you have a Twitter account, click the re-tweet button above. If you have a Facebook account, post a link to this article. If you know a blogger with influence, please ask he or she to link to this article and bring this issue to the forefront of the collective mind. Spread the word and help prevent another child’s tragic death. Thank you.
IKEA’s Commitment to Preventing Furniture Tip-Over
IKEA provides safety straps and warnings in the instructions of most of their furniture, although older instructions sets don’t all have the warnings or instructions on securing furniture. IKEA’s website states the following on pieces that are considered tip-over risks:
We recommend you secure this furniture to the wall with the enclosed safety strap to prevent it from tipping over.
Different wall materials require different types of fasteners. Use fasteners suitable for the walls in your home (not included).
IKEA Safety Straps, L-Brackets and Hanging Brackets
Below are examples of the types of safety straps and brackets IKEA provides with their furniture, so if you have these parts lying around, you haven’t yet completed the installation of your furniture and you or your loved ones are AT RISK!
Don’t let another day go by without securing the future health and well-being of you, your family, your friends and even your pets! Get those pieces of furniture secured!
Tags: earthquake straps, furniture tip-over, IKEA Furniture, safety brackets, Safety straps
My son pulled a piece of furniture of him on March 18, 2002. Our family was very lucky and tonight my 9 year old sits at the table reading his book because he can’t sleep. I am letting him stay up waaaaaaay past his bed time because I know tonight, on the 5th anniversary of Katie Lambert’s tragic furniture tip over accident, her parents would give anything to have her with them. My son’s accidnet was preventable as are all furniture tip over accidents. A whole in a wall can be repaired, but the whole in a heart can NEVER be filled. Prayers to the Lambert family.
Are the straps available for purchase apart from the furniture? I have several IKEA bookshelves etc that I never secured. I now have a toddler and I really need to do this. Thanks!
Liz, I have some straps in my stash that I could send you, or you could buy them on Amazon and have them in a couple of days
Really? That is so nice of you. If you are sure that you don’t need them, send me an email – liz@hybrid-life.net
As a close family friend of Meghan Beck’s family, I have seen and felt the repercussions of Meg’s accident. It never ends. The daily heartache that her parents and brothers feel is palpable. Five years on, it feels like it was yesterday.
Holes in walls can be repaired. Holes in your heart are forever.
Please do what you can to prevent another family from this tragedy.
That one strap just looks like a piece of nylon webbing, a couple screws and a couple washers, you could get that at the hardware store and make enough for a house full of things for a few bucks. They sell webbing by the yard too. If they don’t a fabric store will. Just be sure you get wood screws and find a stud, shouldn’t make a diff where you attach the strap up top.
Get long ones for the wall and shorter ones for the furniture so they don’t go all the way through the wood.
Jen, you’re right. For a crafty girl like you that’s a no-brainer! Regardless of how it’s accomplished, the important thing is to secure those top-heavy pieces of furniture to the wall so that they cannot tip-over!
Last month my MALM 6 draw dresser from Ikea fell on my 6-year-old daughter. She moved out of the way in an enough time. The only sign of it falling on her is a long scratch down the right side of her face. Which is going away rather well. Thank god that’s all that happened. The dresser came with the brackets. But I didn’t think that I would need them. So now I had her dad attach the on the dresser. Yes it wasn’t smart of me not to attach them when I first got the dresser.
Lara – Awfully glad your daughter is ok! I’m sure you won’t ever forget the importance of this lesson.
Susan
My MALM 6 draw dresser fell when my 4 year old son was picking out clothes. Luckily he move out of the way and only hurt his finger. I just bought some straps from amazon today. Be careful because if you open all of the drawers they just tip over. They cant stand the weight of the clothes. Of course a adult understands this but children don’t.
Our MALM 6 drawer dresser also tipped over when all of the drawers were pulled out, trapping my 18 mos old son. Luckily I was there to catch the weight of the dresser so he was not hurt. We had not attached the safety straps that had come with the furniture, but the dresser turned over so suddenly and it was so heavy, I have a hard time believing that the straps would have stopped the fall. Perhaps I am wrong, but I am not taking a chance this time. I’m going to secure the furniture to the studs in the wall with lag bolts. We’ve also had a similar problem with the MALM nightstands. IKEA should look into this problem; a dresser should not up-end itself when its drawers are opened.
Stephanie – truly sorry this happened to you! It must have been very frightening for both you and your son. Unfortunately, due to the laws of physics, this will happen with any dresser/bookcase/nightstand and even televisions when all the weight is thrown to one side.
The safety straps provided WILL in fact prevent the dresser from falling over. Before it tips past the point of no return, there’s very little momentum to carry it over. If lag bolts make you feel more comfortable, by all means install them but I wouldn’t want anyone to think that the straps provided are insufficient.
Susan
I stumbled across this, and to those opting for lag bolts, I would recommend finding a stud instead. Id trust the strap to hold a jolt of weight before I would trust drywall.