Charlie’s legacy
Furniture being deadly seems like such an unlikely threat, but tipping accidents happen by the thousands every year.
Charlie Horn would be a young man in his early 20s today were it not for a falling piece of furniture took his life in 2007. The piece — a small, unanchored dresser only 30" — tipped forward when the active 2-1/2-year-old tried to climb it, trapping him underneath.
The Consumer Products Safety Commission notes that about half of the annual 17,800 injuries caused by falling furniture involve children under 18. Further, some 70 percent of tipping-related fatalities are children. I’ve talked about this before, and it’s an important issue.
Following Charlie’s death, Brett and Jenny Horn created Charlie’s Safe Haven to increase awareness of — and hopefully prevent — home accidents and injuries to children. (It was efforts like theirs and others that prompted the CPSC to create their educational Anchor It! Campaign.)
Renamed Charlie’s House in 2010, they created a website, distributed educational materials to thousands, and started planning a physical location — a real house. While using a temporary site in a model home, active fund-raising built the capital to create a permanent safety demonstration house. Finally, after years of events, promotions and outreach, the dream was realized with the groundbreaking for the permanent Charlie’s House in 2018.
Located in Kansas City, Mo., a tour through the 3,200 sq. ft., fully furnished home highlights safety issues in each room. A free Charlie’s House Virtual Safety Experience app for iPhone and Android devices, shown above, gives a full simulated tour of the house, along with all the same safety information.
You can be a part of this, you know, even if you can’t be at Charlie’s House. Woodworkers, furniture makers, contractors, and installers produce the things that homeowners use. Always include anti-tipping protection in anything you make, inform your customers of their importance, and show them how it works. For items that don’t tip themselves but may hold things that do, such as entertainment centers and low consoles, still include info on tipping dangers for the items your customers will use on top of them.
Furniture being deadly seems like such an unlikely threat, but tipping accidents happen by the thousands every year. If you can help prevent even one of them, you’re a friend of Charlie’s.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.
