Having worked at IKEA for 14 years, I know everything there is to know about their inner workings. This recall is the result of gross negligence on the part of IKEA. I was there in the early 1990’s when the first death in the U.S. occurred. A young child opened the bottom drawers of an IKEA chest and it fell on him. He suffocated to death. My boss Mike McDonald, the CFO, met with the parents and negotiated the large payout to the family. This was over 20 years ago. From that moment forward the company vowed to include a wall anchoring kit with every bookcase and drawer unit. It was a nylon strap with screws and washers so you could attach one end to the furniture and one end into a stud in the wall.
I bought many pieces of IKEA furniture over the years. I had small children. I anchored all of my bookcases and storage units to the wall with these anchors. There is nothing new about this. Why didn’t the Malm dresser already have these wall anchors included? There is no excuse, considering it has been a standard for 20 years. If they were not included in order to save money or cut corners, then the blood of these children are on the hands of IKEA executives in the U.S. and Sweden. IKEA will try to spin this tragedy, but it sounds like corporate irresponsibility to me.
Ikea recalls 27 million chests, dressers after two deaths
Ikea is recalling about 27 million chests and dressers because they can tip over and crush children if they aren’t anchored to the wall, the retailer and the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Wednesday.
Two children died after Ikea’s Malm chests fell on them in 2014. Ikea says it knows of reports of three additional deaths since 1989 from tip-overs involving other models of Ikea chests and dressers.
While Ikea’s new repair program is considered a recall, consumers aren’t supposed to return the furniture. Instead, they should order or pick up a new free wall anchoring kit for the affected chests and dressers. Consumers should move unanchored chests and dressers into storage or other areas where they cannot be accessed by children until the chests and dressers are properly anchored.
Patty Lobell, Ikea’s U.S. commercial manager, said in a statement that the company is “deeply saddened” by the deaths and hopes “our efforts prevent further tragedies.”
Furniture and TV tip-overs have been a top concern at CPSC for several years. A child dies every two weeks and one is injured every 24 minutes in the U.S. from furniture or TVs tipping over, according to CPSC data.
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