Furniture Anchoring & TV Safety

Furniture and TV tip-overs are a leading cause of preventable injury and death for young children. Here’s what the CPSC’s Anchor It! guidance recommends, and what to look for in anchoring hardware.

The CPSC recommends anchoring TVs and furniture — such as bookcases and dressers — securely to the wall, since children like to climb and unsecured pieces can tip with little warning. Its Anchor It! campaign has been associated with a nearly 50% decline in tip-over-related injuries and deaths since 2015, and since September 2023 a federal stability standard created under the STURDY Act has applied to new clothing storage furniture like dressers.

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What to Look For

Rated for Your Furniture's Weight

Anchor straps and brackets are sized for different loads. Check your furniture manufacturer’s instructions for the specific anchoring hardware and weight rating recommended for that piece.

Matches Your Wall and Furniture Material

Anchoring into drywall alone usually isn’t enough — hardware needs to reach a wall stud or use a wall anchor rated for the wall type, and mounting points need to fit your furniture’s back panel or frame.

Covers Both Connections When a TV Is Involved

If a TV sits on top of furniture, you may need the furniture anchored to the wall and the TV separately anchored to the furniture (or wall-mounted instead). A complete kit accounts for both.

Reasonably Easy to Reinstall

Since families rearrange rooms, look for anchoring hardware that isn’t a one-time-only installation — something you can realistically move and reattach if furniture gets repositioned.

What Anchoring Kits Are For — and Where They Fall Short

Anchor straps, brackets, and wall mounts are meant to keep a TV or a piece of furniture from tipping over when a child climbs on it, pulls open a drawer, or leans on it. The CPSC’s Anchor It! campaign frames this as one of the most effective, low-cost steps a household can take.

They only work if installed correctly and into the right anchor point — a strap screwed only into drywall, without reaching a stud or using a proper wall anchor, may not hold under real weight. Manufacturer instructions control the specific installation for your furniture and hardware, and following them matters more than which brand you buy.

Remove items that might tempt kids to climb — toys, remotes, snacks — from the top of dressers, bookcases, and TV stands, even after anchoring. Anchoring reduces tip-over risk; it doesn’t make climbing safe.

Common Anchor & Mount Types

Type	How It Works	Things to Consider
L-Bracket / Strap Anchor Kits	A strap or L-shaped bracket connects the back of a dresser, bookcase, or media stand to a wall stud or wall anchor.	Works well for furniture that sits against a wall. Needs to be reinstalled if you move the piece, and hardware should match your wall type — follow the manufacturer’s instructions for stud vs. drywall-anchor mounting.
Furniture-to-Furniture Anti-Tip Straps	Connects a TV to the media stand or dresser it’s resting on, separate from anchoring that furniture to the wall.	Useful when the TV isn’t wall-mounted. Check that the strap is rated for both your TV’s weight and how it attaches to your specific furniture.
TV Wall Mounts	Secures the TV directly to wall studs, taking the furniture underneath out of the tip-over equation entirely.	Removes a common way children pull TVs down from furniture. Heavier TVs may be worth professional installation, and manufacturer weight limits apply.

Furniture & TV Safety Beyond Anchoring

If a TV isn’t wall-mounted, the CPSC recommends placing it only on furniture designed to hold a television, such as a stand or media center rather than a regular dresser, and keeping it pushed back as far as possible with cords out of reach.

Since September 2023, a federal mandatory stability standard created under the STURDY Act has required new clothing storage furniture — dressers and similar pieces — to meet stability requirements. That’s a helpful baseline, but the CPSC’s anchoring guidance applies regardless of a piece’s age or how sturdy it seems on its own.

If you can’t drill into your walls — for example, if you’re renting — the CPSC suggests placing TVs on a sturdy, low base, pushing them back as far as possible, and keeping cords out of reach as a partial alternative to wall anchoring.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to anchor furniture if it seems stable?

Yes. The CPSC’s Anchor It! guidance recommends anchoring TVs and furniture such as bookcases and dressers to the wall regardless of how sturdy a piece seems, since tip-overs are often triggered by a child climbing or pulling open a drawer.

What if I can't drill into my walls?

When wall anchoring isn’t an option, CPSC guidance suggests placing TVs on a sturdy, low base, pushing them back as far as possible, and keeping cords out of reach. It may also be worth asking a landlord about anchor-friendly options.

Are new dressers automatically safer than older ones?

Since September 2023, a federal mandatory stability standard created under the STURDY Act has required new clothing storage furniture to meet stability requirements. That’s a useful baseline, but the CPSC still recommends anchoring furniture regardless of its age or how it was rated.

Sources

This guide is based on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Anchor It! furniture and TV tip-over prevention campaign and CPSC’s 2025 announcement marking the campaign’s 10th anniversary, which references the STURDY Act stability standard for clothing storage furniture.

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