Swedish furniture brand Ikea has issued a recall of about 27 million chests and drawers following two incidents that resulted in the death of children, ABC News reported.
A MALM six-drawer chest fell on a two-year-old child in Pennsylvania, pinning the toddler to his bed. A MALM three-drawer chest also tipped over a 23-month-old baby in Washington. Since 1989, Ikea has knowledge of three deaths linked to similar furniture pieces, the company told the news outlet.
Ikea, together with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), has also launched a safety program on top of the recall order as a preventive measure.
In a statement released via the CPSC, the furniture company said that it will provide "free wall anchoring kit for their MALM 3- and 4-drawer chests and two styles of MALM 6-drawer chests, and other chest and dressers."
The company also recognizes that there are "about 7 million MALM chests and 20 million other IKEA chests and drawers are part of the nationwide repair program." Parents are encouraged to avail of the kits at an Ikea retail store or visit the company's website for more information.
The massive recall order is shedding light on the risks of unanchored furniture to children inside the house. Apparently, this is not new to the CPSC, which said in a report on their website, that one child gets hurt by furniture toppling over them every 24 minutes.
"Children see something that they are trying to get that's been left on, they start to climb, the unit falls over," said the chairman of the CPSC, Elliot Kaye, via Today. "We are talking deaths. We've had two children in the last year-and-a-half die from these types of units."
Below are more tips to preventing a tip-over as advised by the CPSC:
1. Prevent furniture from tipping over by purchasing and properly installing anchoring devices. When buying a new furniture or appliance, be sure to properly anchor the old one after moving it.
2. Do not leave small items on top of the furniture so that kids won't be tempted to climb and reach them.
3. Store heavy items on lower shelves or drawers.
