IKEA Canada announces that it will only sell chests of drawers that meet the voluntary North American ASTM standard and issues a recall for repair or refund on chests of drawers that do not meet the standard

BURLINGTON, ON, June 28, 2016 /CNW/ - IKEA Canada in partnership with Health Canada, announced today that it will only sell chests of drawers that meet the voluntary North American ASTM standard requirements on free-standing stability. As part of today's announcement, the retailer has also issued a recall for repair or refund on unattached chests of drawers that do not meet the free-standing stability requirements of the ASTM standard.

"IKEA Canada takes its role as a responsible retailer very seriously and we want to raise the awareness of the hazard of furniture tip-over in Canadians' homes", says Stefan Sjöstrand, IKEA Canada President.

While IKEA is making this commitment to the free-standing stability of its chests of drawers, it will continue to make wall attachment an integral part of the assembly of IKEA chests of drawers as it really is the single best preventative measure against furniture tip-overs.

IKEA believes the best way to prevent furniture from tipping over is to secure it to the wall. That is why IKEA has provided tip-over restraints with many types of its furniture and makes it a required step in assembly instructions.

As part of its commitment to the importance of securely anchoring furniture to the wall, IKEA Canada has issued a recall for repair or refund of those unattached chests of drawers in consumers' homes that do not comply with the free-standing stability requirements of the North American ASTM standard and are above 60cm for children's chests of drawers and above 75cm for adult chests of drawers. A list of affected chests of drawers can be found on IKEA's website at www.ikea.ca/saferhomestogether.

Customers who, for any reason, cannot secure their IKEA chests of drawers to the wall are now advised to bring them back to any IKEA location for a refund. Customers are entitled to a full refund for chests and dressers manufactured between January 2002 and June 2016. Chests of drawers manufactured prior to 2002 will be eligible for a partial store credit. For any customer that still wants to keep their IKEA chest of drawers, but who did not keep their tip-over restraint, a free wall anchoring kit can be picked up at any IKEA location or one can be delivered to their home by contacting the Customer Support Centre at 1-800-661-9807 or by visiting www.ikea.ca/saferhomestogether.

Consumers are urged to immediately stop using and move any unanchored IKEA chest of drawers into storage where they cannot be accessed by children until the chests of drawers are properly anchored to the wall or returned to an IKEA location. If customers have securely anchored their IKEA chests of drawers to the wall then they are perfectly fine to use and no further action is required.

In summer 2015, IKEA Canada launched the "Secure It" campaign to educate consumers on the best way to prevent tip-over accidents and to provide tools to help them achieve that.  To-date, IKEA has handed out more than 45,000 free wall-anchoring kits to Canadians. This is in addition to the tip-over restraints that have been shipped with IKEA chests of drawers for years.

The "Secure It" furniture tip-over prevention campaign is part of a larger "Safer Homes Together" initiative that focuses on educating customers about safety at home. As part of the program, IKEA Canada announced in October 2015 that it will only sell cordless window blinds and coverings, being the first Canadian retailer to take this voluntary action. 

ABOUT IKEA CANADA
IKEA is a leading home furnishing retailer with 375 stores in more than 50 countries worldwide, which are visited by 884 million people every year. IKEA Canada has 12 stores, an eCommerce virtual store and six Pick-Up and Order Point locations in southern Ontario and Quebec. The company also recently announced plans to open a 13^th store in Halifax, Nova Scotia in late 2017. Last year, IKEA Canada welcomed 25 million visitors to its stores and 75 million visitors to the IKEA.ca website. Founded in 1943, the IKEA business philosophy is to offer a wide range of products of good design and function at prices so low, the majority of people can afford them. For more information on IKEA, please visit: www.IKEA.ca.

SOURCE IKEA Canada

Stephanie Kerr, Corporate Press Officer, [email protected], 905-637-9440 x6378