CHICAGO -- Two years after her son Shane was crushed by a falling dresser in the family's home just outside Chicago, Lisa Siefert drives to her advocacy work on the dangers of tip-overs with his car seat still in place.

She can't bring herself to go into the bedroom where the 2-year-old died, but gathers the will to talk about what happened because she didn't know furniture should be anchored and wants to warn others to prevent another tragedy.

"When you walk into (a children's store), you expect the products to be safe, but that's not true," said Siefert.

The dresser that fell on Shane two years ago was recalled in February by the Consumer Product Safety Commission after an investigation found it to be hazardous. Several other actions focusing on tip-overs are pending or have been launched after the number of deaths and injuries to children from falling televisions and furniture keeps rising.

From 2000 to 2011, 349 people were killed in tip-overs, 84 percent of them younger than 9. In 2011, there were 41 deaths - the highest one-year total ever, according to the safety commission, which says that, on average, one child dies in a furniture tip-over every two weeks..

In addition, an estimated 43,000 individuals are injured each year in tip-overs, with almost 60 percent of them younger than 18, according to the safety commission.

The deaths and injuries are preventable, the safety commission says, but alerting new parents, caregivers and grandparents about safety straps and brackets requires coordination and cooperation from furniture and TV manufacturers and retailers, as well as physicians, hospitals and consumer groups.

"From stability to interaction with installers to the role parents can take, it's an all-in approach to bring down an ever-increasing number of deaths," said Scott Wolfson, a safety commission spokesman.

A big factor in the increase is sales of flat-screen televisions and the subsequent misplacement of older, heavier TVs elsewhere in homes. The safety commission says falling televisions cause 62 percent of tip-over fatalities.

SafeKids Worldwide, a network of organizations working to prevent injuries to children, was spurred to act after monitoring reports from emergency rooms and the Consumer Product Safety Commission about tip-overs, said Kate Carr, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based group.

In October, it surveyed more than 1,000 parents and found 3 out of 4 were unaware of the danger posed by falling TVs, she said.

"Flat-screen TVs are becoming more popular, and they're frequently not secured," Carr said. The survey found only one in four flat-screens was mounted to the wall. "And older TVs are being moved into bedrooms and put on furniture not meant for that."

As Siefert speaks to groups, she asks if people secure their furniture and often gets blank stares, she said. She also hears that people don't want to damage their walls or floors by installing restraints.

"When we had our daughter Darby, we loaded up a cart with things off the safety display in the store, but safety straps were not on lists and they were not talked about," said Siefert, who moved the now-recalled Natart Chelsea dresser made by Canadian-based Gemme Juvenile to Shane's room when he was born 2 1/2 years after his sister.

"People say they don't need straps because they watch their kids. But sometimes accidents happen in front of parents. I tell them I took all the safety measures I knew about, but this is my son," she said, holding up a brochure with a photo of Shane in monster truck earmuffs, a month before his death.