A lawn mower is much more than just a simple, everyday power tool sitting in your garage -- just ask the 75,000 American adults and children who are injured in lawn mower accidents each year.
But with a little extra lawn mower caution and safety, many of the serious and even life-threatening injuries often caused by lawn mowers can be prevented.
So, before you even pull your lawn mower out of the garage, University of Michigan Health System emergency medical staff encourage you to take into consideration a few lawn mower safety tips this summer.
As the director of UMHS Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Marie Lozon, M.D., has seen the devastating injuries lawn mowers can cause, especially for young children -- many of which she says, could have been prevented.
"A lawn mower definitely has the potential to become an extremely dangerous instrument when it's used carelessly or without the proper safety precautions," she warns. "Lawn mower injuries can be devastating to the patients and their families, so it's important to never take lawn mower safety for granted. The vast majority of lawn mower injuries are preventable."
Riding lawn mowers cause some of the most serious injuries for both adults and children. Adults often allow young children to ride on their lap while they cut the lawn, which is never a good idea. With young passengers riding aboard the mowers, there is always the potential that they could fall off the machine while it's running.
Lozon says this type of occurrence can result in the child's hands, feet or entire body being run over by the mower, often resulting in limb amputation or a life-long debilitation injury.
In fact, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery and the American Academy of Pediatrics both recommend that children should not even operate riding lawn mowers until they are 16 years old. But with proper adult supervision, a younger teen can operate a regular push power mower.
In addition, any time adults are using lawn mowers, they should make sure to keep children out of the yard and in a well-supervised area to avoid injury. Nearly 10,000 children in America are injured each year as the result of a lawn mower accident.
Adults, too, need to use extra caution while operating a riding mower to protect themselves from personal injury.
Riding mowers have the potential to tip over onto the driver when going up slopes, often resulting in serious injury to the hands and feet.
Also, with both riding mower and traditional power mowers, it's important to make sure the yard is free of loose objects, like sticks or rocks, that can project out of the mower during use and cause injury to the face or eyes. One of the first things Michael McReynolds, RN, EMT-P, a UMHS flight nurse with Survival Flight, does before he cuts the lawn is pick up lose debris on the lawn, especially since his young children tend to leave their toys around the yard.
"Any clutter left laying around the yard can fly up into the engine and be projected out the side, almost like a missile, and it can cause serious injury to a person," says McReynolds.
Personal protective equipment is also a must, according to McReynolds, for anyone cutting the lawn. To prevent injury, he suggests that everyone who operates a lawn mower wear pants, steel-toed boots and goggles.
"Loose or scanty clothing could potentially put you at risk for becoming burned by the machine or injured by projectiles," says Lozon. "One should wear relatively close-fitting clothing and non-skid, strong footwear like hiking boots that could provide some safety if a blade should come too close to the foot."
In addition, Lozon and McReynolds suggest using some form of hearing protection, since lawn mowers, at an average of 95 decibels, are extremely loud. However, they caution lawn mower operators against using portable music players, which may distract the operator from other potential dangers.
And with more than 22 percent of lawn mower injuries involving the hands, fingers or wrist, it's important to always make sure the engine is off and the mower blade has completely stopped rotating and remove the spark plug before attempting to remove debris from the mower or make adjustments.
"Even when the mower's turned off, the blade is still turning and there's still the risk for a severe injury," says McReynolds. "And even if there are times when you just want to adjust the height of the mower's wheels, you should pull out the spark plug to ensure that there's no way for the lawn mower to turn on."
Lawn mower operators should also use extra caution when fueling the machine. Improper fueling can result in burns or explosions, which could cause the loss of an eye, limb, skin or prove fatal. In all cases, lawn mower owners are strongly encouraged to read their owner's manuals for proper safety operating instructions.
Facts about lawn mower safety:-Nearly 75,000 Americans are seriously injured in lawn mower accidents each year. About 10,000 of those injuries involve children.-The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery and the American Academy of Pediatrics both recommend that children not operate a lawn mower until they are 16 years old. -Children should never ride as a passenger on a lawn mower. Children on riding mowers have the potential to fall and be run over by the mower, resulting in serious injury and/or amputation of the extremities.-Any time adults are using a lawn mower, they should make sure to keep children out of the yard and in a well-supervised area to avoid injury.-Lawn mower operators should wear protective gear including pants, steel-toed boots, goggles and ear protection, excluding portable music players.-Make sure all debris (rocks, sticks and toys) are removed from the yard before you begin mowing. Loose objects can project out of the lawn mower and cause serious injury.-Riding mowers have the potential to tip or roll over if used on slopes or steep hills, which can result in serious injury.-Always read the lawn mower owner's manual for operating and care instructions. The owner's manual will provide instruction on fueling the machine and on proper use.
For more information, visit the following Web sites:
UMHS Press Release: Cutting Back on Summer Injurieshttp://www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2002/lawnmower.htm
American Academy of Pediatrics: Lawn Mower Safetyhttp://www.aap.org/family/tipplawn.htm
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: Power Lawn Mower Safetyhttp://www.aaos.org/wordhtml/papers/position/lawnfinl.htm
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