Quickly Improve Flat Screen TV Safety With Zip Ties

Research conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy of Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that injuries among children related to falling furniture were up nearly 41 percent between 1990 and 2007. After examining data from the national Electronic Injury Surveillance System, researchers found that three-quarters of the injuries occurred in children age 6 or younger. Nearly half of the injuries resulted from falling televisions. In 70 percent of the cases, the furniture or televisions tipped for no clear reason. More than 18 percent involved a child pulling the TV or furniture onto himself or herself.

My kid is always pawing at our mounted TV.  Especially when Dexter is on.  I researched TV safety straps online.  They seemed really simple and I thought I could accomplish a similar level of stability on my own.  My TV mounting bracket is a study metal "universal" bracket so it has an abundance of different holes in it to accommodate all different kinds of TV's.  The bracket is designed so that the TV can be lifted off of the bracket.  With my daughter and her Dexter obsession it is dangerous because she could push up on the TV releasing it from the bracket and cause it to fall on top of her...pinning her between the floor and her favorite serial killer show.  I decided that I could use heavy duty zip ties to secure the TV to the mounting bracket and prevent the TV from being released from the bracket.

I started by removing the TV from the bracket, unhooking the wires, and laying it on the floor.  It was a real mess of wires behind there and the dust was thick.  I'm a guy so I just ignored it and pressed on.

I took two heavy duty 18 inch zip ties and inserted them through the holes in the TV bracket mount.  I replaced all of the cables and hoisted the TV back onto the wall bracket.  I threaded the zip ties around the wall bracket so that the wall bracket could not be separated from the TV bracket.  Then I tightened the zip ties and clipped the excess.  Near the bottom of the TV I found another area where I could secure it with a zip tie.  So I had three zip ties holding the TV in place.  To test it I grabbed the bottom of the TV and lifted up.  The TV didn't budge.  I figure I'm slightly stronger than my 2 year old so it should hold if she tries something.

Now the next time we watch Dexter as a family we can spend more time discussing the plot and less time pulling the kid away from the screen.