Ikea North America, together with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), is announcing a fix program that offers free wall anchoring kits for the furniture maker’s Malm 3 and 4 drawer chest and two different styles of Malm 6-drawer chests as well as other chests and dressers.
Advertisement
Ikea is warning customers who bought its Malm dressers and drawers that if they have not attached them to the wall already, they should go to their nearest store immediately for a kit that will enable them to do so.
IKEA is warning customers that they must use a wall-anchoring kit with its drawers and dressers after two toddlers were killed previous year.
According to a spokeswoman for the Swedish furniture company, in Australia, IKEA chests and dressers were distributed along with tip-over restraints and instructions for anchoring to wall.
Ikea said it has received 14 reports of accidents resulting in four injuries.
IKEA advised any customers concerned about their furniture to contact the company on 0203 645 0010 to request a free restraint kit. Last year in February, CurrenCollas, 2, died when a MALM six-drawer chest fell over and hit him against his bed at his home in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Neither chest had been anchored to a wall. The CPSC said it could not find a record of any furniture recalls this size. It described the move as a “corrective action” and said it has been working with the CPSC on the announcement for six months. In June 2014, a 23-month old child from Snohomish, Wash, died after he became trapped beneath a 3-drawer chest.
It is believed there were three other recorded incidents of deaths because of other furniture tipping over since 1989 as reported by USA Today. It’s though that around 27 million of the items have been sold around the world.
IKEA’s Lobell said the retailer “is committed to helping raise the awareness of this serious home safety issue and to continue to provide consumers with the tools and knowledge they need to prevent these accidents”.
Advertisement
Ikea started selling the Malm chests in 2002, and their price ranges from $200 to $800.
