IKEA US Introduces New Child Safety App As Part of ‘Safer Homes’ Initiative

Furniture World News Desk on 10/10/2019

IKEA US, through its “Safer Homes” initiative, announced several new ways to raise awareness about common home hazards and provide tips to help prevent them. The goal of the initiative is to make homes safer for families and children with a new mobile app and in-store workshops, in addition to ongoing Secure It! awareness campaigns and co-worker training. 

“At IKEA, everything revolves around our vision to create a better everyday life for the many people, which includes creating a safer life at home,” said Antonella Pucarelli, Chief Commercial Officer, IKEA Retail U.S. “It only takes a few minutes to make life at home safer for children, and we want to give parents and caregivers accessible tools and tips they need to protect their little ones.”

IKEA is relying on its 75 years of experience with innovation and testing to offer consumers products and tools to create a safer life at home. For example, in 2006, IKEA decided to phase out BPA from all plastic children’s toys and began selling only cordless blinds globally in 2016. As a part of the ‘Safer Homes’ initiative, IKEA is announcing:

• The ‘IKEA Safer Home’ Mobile App and Landing Page - The app, which is free and now available for download, provides information to parents on children’s different development stages and offers room-by-room home safety tips tailored to children’s ages in the user’s home. The information and safety tips on the app will also be available on a new dedicated landing page on IKEA-USA.com.
   
  
  
• In-Store “Safer Homes” Workshops - IKEA will launch a series of workshops hosted in its stores across the country in November, February and June to help customers learn how to create a safer life at home for families with children, with a specific focus on furniture tip-over.
   
  
  
• Safer Homes Partnership with Pediatricians - IKEA will expand the initiative to include pediatricians’ offices, where the Safer Homes message will be displayed on screens to parents and caregivers as they are in the mindset of thinking about the safety and well-being of their child.

Whether it’s going through a safety check-list, learning how to child-proof homes, or following directions to secure furniture to the wall, IKEA wants to provide the information and support parents need. A key part of the Safer Homes initiative is to continue reinforcing the importance of anchoring chests of drawers to the wall. Tip-over incidents remain a serious safety issue for the entire home furnishings industry.

IKEA is committed to helping move the entire industry ahead when it comes to product safety. In addition to the new app and ongoing communication efforts, the company has continued to invest in product development and testing, leading to innovative solutions to further increase user friendliness and enhance safe use. Later this year, IKEA will be introducing the GLESVÄR family of dressers to consumers, which are designed with safety features to decrease furniture tip-over. These new chests of drawers will have stability features, such as interlock with unlock function or forced wall attachment. The interlock with unlock model will be sold in select U.S. stores beginning in December.

If a customer has an IKEA chest of drawers that was part of the 2016 recall that is not attached to the wall, they should contact IKEA at https://info.ikea-usa.com/secureitkits or 888-966-4532 for free wall attachment kit or refund. IKEA can also arrange to come to a customer’s home for free to pick up a dresser or attach it to the wall.