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WARNING: TIP-OVER HAZARD!

CPSC Learns of More Injuries, Teachers Should Not Let Children Move or Play Near TV or Audiovisual Carts

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the International Communications Industries Association warns the nation's school teachers not to allow children to move or play near TV or audiovisual carts because they can tip over and kill or seriously injure children.

CPSC is concerned about the safety of flat-topped carts as well. In most of the cases, a teacher asked the young students (ranging in age from 7 to 11) to move a cart to another room. The cart overturned when it apparently hit a child's foot while being pulled or when the child stepped on the front of the cart for a ride. Typically, two children were moving the audiovisual cart, one child pulling from the front and the other child pushing from the back. The child in front was the one who was injured or killed. In one recently reported incident in which the cart was not being moved, a young girl suffered permanent brain damage when she climbed on or fell into a cart and the cart and TV fell on her.

To avoid injuries and deaths from TV or audiovisual cart tip-over, teachers and school administrators should follow these safety rules:

• Do not allow children to walk in front of a loaded TV or audiovisual cart to pull or guide it.
  
  
• Do not let children move a TV or audiovisual cart: only adults should move them.
  
  
• Do not allow anyone to step or ride on the TV or audiovisual cart, because this can cause it to overturn.
  
  
• Plan ahead when TV or other audiovisual equipment is needed, so it can be moved by an adult before and after class.
  
  
• Do not let children play near TV or audiovisual carts.
  
  

A loaded TV or audiovisual cart can overturn and cause death or serious injury from unstable conditions like quick stops and riding on the cart.

Credits

U.S. CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20207

CPSC DOCUMENT #5102