IKEA Cabinets Killed Two Children in the USA

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning to the Swedish furniture concern IKEA after two cabinets manufactured by this company caused the death of two children.

The American consumer, the report says, should stop using IKEA cabinets and chests of drawers unless they are attached to the wall. The danger is primarily posed by the Malm series of chests of drawers, sold in the United States in the amount of about seven million units and which have already twice caused the death of children.

In February, a two-year-old boy died in Pennsylvania 2014 when a wardrobe fell on his chest and crushed to a bed. And in June of the same year in Washington state another child died from the fall of a small chest of drawers in this series.

In addition to these incidents, the Product Safety Commission has received reports of fourteen other cases in which Malm cabinets and chests of drawers have tipped over on their owners. As a result of these incidents, four people were seriously injured. In addition, three more deaths have been reported from other types of furniture falling on people since 1989.

IKEA has already offered its customers free kits for attaching chests of drawers they purchased to the wall. The proposal refers to the seven million consumers who purchased Malm models, and the twenty million others who, for whatever reason, received any other wardrobe or chest of drawers without fasteners.

IKEA has also published a new safety standard, according to which children's dressers and cabinets with 60 height of cm and more, as well as adult models higher than 75 cm, is contraindicated if they are not securely attached to the wall.