Over 20,000 children are injured each year as a resulting of a television toppling. A typical scenario involves a child inadvertently pulling the set over on herself. The smaller the child and the larger the television, the greater the likelihood that the injuries will be life threatening. This being said, it is obviously important to assess the relative stability of your television.

For many of us, our televisions have grown bigger and bigger through the years, yet our television stands have not kept pace. We frequently encounter televisions that are oversized for their base and could easily topple in an earthquake or even by the force of an excited toddler. It is important to both obtain a suitable size base and brace the television to the wall.

Television bracing kits are available at many home centers. A high quality kit is available from CalStraps. Most kits utilize a vinyl strap, Velcro and adhesive tape. It is very important to clean with alcohol any surfaces that the adhesive will contact and to screw the vinyl straps into the studs in the wall.

An undersized television stand may provide the opportunity to upgrade to an entertainment center. Doing so may have the additional benefit of more storage and doors that can be readily latched. Just remember, entertainment centers and armoires, even large ones, should probably be earthquake braced as well.

Some families have entertainment centers consisting of open shelving with lots of equipment stored upon them. In this case, gating off the entertainment center may be the most effective way of preventing access to the equipment, wiring, speakers and television. The KidCo Configure Gate works very well for this application.

Finally, some husbands will use the safety concern of a toppling television to justify upgrading to a wall mounted flat screen unit. These have a much smaller safety risk, but only if they are properly mounted.

In summary, it is important that you evaluate the relative hazard posed by your television(s). Then, either brace it, upgrade your stand or go for the flat screen.