TV Safety Awareness Day A Matter Of Life Or Death
By John Ostapkovich
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Saturday is National TV Safety Awareness Day, but it's not about watching too much television.
This day is not about being a couch potato, or even about a kid watching adult programing. Instead, it's about not respecting the mass of today's TV's.
"The bigger the flat panel TVs are, the easier it is to tip them over, if they're not secured," Kate Carr, president and CEO of Safe Kids Worldwide, tells KYW Newsradio. "The best thing with a flat panel is to have it hanging securely on a wall, or at least secured to piece of furniture."
Carr says a child goes to an Emergency Room with a TV-related injury every 45 minutes, and one dies every three weeks. She says old-style CRTs are dangerous too:
"Because of the weight of the TV, when a 36-inch CRT falls, the momentum is like a one-year-old falling ten stories, which is kind of dramatic."
Carr urges grandparents to just get rid of any unused TVs in spare rooms, because they present a clear and present danger to visiting children.