Kitchen Stove Safety Anti Tip Bracket

Simple devices like the kitchen stove anti tip bracket can save your child and yourself from serious injuries and sometimes even death.

Since 1991, after “voluntary safety standards” have been developed by UL (Underwriter Laboratories) and ANSI (American National Standards Institute), gas and electric stove installers are required to install provided by the manufacturer stove anti tip bracket. Also, kitchen stove must remain stable when 250 pounds of pressure is applied to the open oven door for five minutes.

Based on CPSC (US Consumer Product Safety Commission) reports, there were 143 incidents over the 27 year period (1.1.1980 – 12.31.2006) that involved kitchen range tip-over caused by a missing anti tip bracket. Thirty three fatalities (part of those 143 incidents) involved 19 children, and all 33 deaths were caused by the victim being trapped under the range that fell on them.

Those are of course only reported to CPSC accidents caused by a tipping stove / missing anti tip bracket, and there might be many more. Or maybe this is a complete number which gives us ONLY 5.3 stove tipping related incidents per year. For as long as it doesn’t involve our family or friends it usually means nothing to us. I’m pretty sure that most kitchen stove owners don’t even realize that anti tip bracket installation is required by the manufacturer for stability of the stove.

They probably didn’t even hear about the stove anti tip bracket … have you?

I rarely see this stove anti tip bracket installed at the new construction or gut-rehabbed properties, which means that the installers are simply too lazy to do it. They must be educated / instructed by the manufacturer because it’s a part of the stove installation procedure, and a very simple one.

• Check behind your kitchen stove for an anti tip bracket
• Call your installer if he forgot to put one for you
• Contact stove manufacturer if you need a kitchen stove safety anti tip bracket!

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