Bel Furniture Recalls Barrington 5-Drawer Chests After a Tip-Over Injury

This dresser recall follows several similar furniture recalls over the past two years after stability testing done by Consumer Reports and the CPSC. CR’s evaluations found that many dressers on the market didn’t pass our basic stability tests, and CPSC testing found that many products didn’t comply with the industry’s voluntary stability standard, which is meant to prevent dangerous tip-over incidents. CR hasn’t tested Bel Furniture dressers, including the model recalled this week.

Every 60 minutes, on average, a child is sent to an emergency room following a furniture tip-over incident, and there were at least 218 reported child fatalities involving a chest, bureau, or dresser between 2000 and 2019, according to the CPSC.

To address the danger, federal legislation called the Stop Tip-Overs of Unstable, Risky Dressers on Youth (STURDY) Act was recently passed in the House with bipartisan support and is awaiting a vote in the Senate. The bill, which is backed by CR and other consumer safety advocates, would require the CPSC to create a new mandatory rule that includes more stringent stability requirements for dressers, as opposed to the voluntary stability standard that exists.

“The current voluntary standard is too weak to protect children from the very real risk of injury and death that can result from tip-overs,” says Gabe Knight, a policy analyst at CR. “The existing standard does not account for much of what happens in the real world—such as when multiple drawers are opened at once or when a child pulls on a drawer or attempts to climb on a dresser—which is why the Senate needs to pass the STURDY Act right away.”

Several furniture sellers already support the law—including Amazon, Room & Board, and Williams-Sonoma, which owns Pottery Barn and West Elm.

Bel Furniture could not immediately be reached for comment.