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Is your furniture child proof?

Posted at 6:48 PM, Apr 24, 2012
and last updated 2012-04-24 19:01:52-04

(WTVR) - Purchasing a new couch or table? Is it child proof?

The consumer product safety commission says a child is killed every two weeks by furniture that tips over.

Some furniture companies are aware of that and recognize children sometimes don't use furniture the way it was designed.

Companies such as Virginia-based Stanley Furniture are trying to make safer products,  by testing the weight furniture can hold without tipping.

“A weight is applied to the front edge of the drawer," said Ward O'Quinn, Product Manager of Stanley Furniture.

"25 pounds being inside the drawer, 25 pounds being outside the drawer, and once that weight is put into the drawer the back of the case cannot come off the ground.”

There are also anti-tip kits available, that consist of a system of hooks and wires attached to a wall stud.