CPSC unveils mandatory standard for dressers to prevent tip-over deaths, injuries

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on Wednesday voted to roll out new mandatory safety standards for dressers and other clothing storage units after determining the furniture currently poses an unreasonable risk of injury and death.

The new standards for clothing storage units, which include dressers and wardrobes, will significantly change how such furniture is tested and labeled, the CPSC said in a news release.

Some 234 people have died from tip-overs from April 2000 to January 2022, including 199 child fatalities, according to the CPSC. And from 2006 to 2021, there have been 84,100 tip-over injures — about 5,300 annually, 72 percent of which were child-related injuries.

CPSC Chairman Alex Hoehn-Saric said in a statement that “children are killed or injured in dresser tipover incidents” every year.

“The standard set today will ensure that dressers are safer and fewer children are at risk,” Hoehn-Saric said.

Clothing storage units include chests, bureaus, dressers, armoires, wardrobes, chests of drawers, drawer chests, chifforobes and door chests.

The new standard includes new minimum stability requirements and enhanced safety displays, including a hang tag that shows performance and technical data related to the product’s stability.

The CPSC voted 3-1 to approve the new standards on Wednesday.