AHFA Concludes First Furniture Safety Week

AHFA's first Furniture Safety Week October 7-11 united all segments of the home furnishings industry - manufacturers, importers, retailers, e-commerce sites and interior designers - behind a series of simple home safety messages focused on furniture.

The effort was endorsed by Parents Against Tip-Overs and Kids in Danger, two child safety advocacy groups that worked alongside AHFA on the STURDY Act, as well as on the final furniture stability standard that was mandated by STURDY. The International Association for Child Safety, Charlie's House and the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association also endorsed the campaign.

Retail support came from Home Furnishings Association, Furniture First, Furniture Marketing Group and FurnitureDealer.Net. Additional backers included the American Society of Interior Designers, WithIT, the International Home Furnishings Representatives Association, Interior Design Society, ANDMORE and CertiPUR-US. Home News Now and Furniture Today both provided media support.

All of these organizations sent communications to their members in September urging participation in Furniture Safety Week and providing a link to a toolbox full of resources on the Furniture Safety Week pages of Alliance4Safety.org. ANDMORE, owner and operator of the High Point, Las Vegas and Atlanta markets, promoted Furniture Safety Week participation in one of its pre-market communications to 75,000 buyers from 33,000 companies.

In addition, interior designer Libby Langdon created a Facebook reel urging the fellow design professionals who are among her 8,000 followers to participate in Furniture Safety Week.

Home News Now ran promo ads in many of its e-dailies from September 6 through October 6. Furniture Today also ran several complimentary promos in its online newsletter the week prior to October 7.

"We laid some incredible groundwork this year, and that's going to help us build our participation in 2025," says AHFA Vice President of Communications Pat Bowling. "Furniture Safety Week now has a permanent home on AHFA's Alliance4Safety website, giving us a strong launchpad for next year's campaign."

Furniture Safety Week generated social media posts with safety messages from about 75 different companies. In addition, a video news release informed consumers about Furniture Safety Week in 20 different markets across the U.S. Produced in collaboration with CertiPUR-US, the two-minute video touches on four potential furniture hazards and simple steps to reduce those hazards. The video also alerts consumers to the health benefits of choosing upholstered furniture with certified foam. Consumers are directed to the Alliance4Safety website for more information.

The combined audience for the video news release was estimated at 712,000 viewers. Additional exposure was gained in 15 of the markets by stations that posted the video on their websites. Austin, Texas, was the largest market that aired the report. Other key markets included Atlanta, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Las Vegas

In one final boost of support for the week, FurnitureDealer.Net collaborated with AHFA to create a Furniture Safety Tips page for its 102 retailer websites, along with a special Furniture Safety Week home page graphic for is new FurnishNearMe website.

"Sharing furniture safety information on retailer websites where consumers are shopping for new furniture is essential," Bowling says. "FurnitureDealer.Net has demonstrated how easy it is to make this information an important part of your customer service."

AHFA has announced that the second annual Furniture Safety Week will be October 6-10, 2025.