AAJ's
Keep Our Families Safe: Consumer News For Families
Newspaper Columns
Lawn Mower Safety
[Column 343, June 27, 2005] | Archived
Columns
By Todd A. Smith*
Once the weather warms, millions of people—homeowners, renters,
landscapers, and kids looking to make money on summer break head outside
to mow the grass. While it is one of the most common pieces of power
equipment, the lawnmower—with a blade speed of about 200 miles
per hour—it is also one of the most dangerous.
Each year, approximately 75,000 people are injured by lawnmowers,
according to the Insurance Information Institute. Approximately 10,000
of those injured are children under the age of 18. Even more distressing,
according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), one
in every five persons killed in a lawnmower incident (with a power
mower, garden tractor, or lawn tractor) is a child.
"Lawn mowers…are unforgiving machines," says John
Drengenberg, manager of Consumer Affairs for Underwriters Laboratories
Inc. (UL), a non-profit product safety testing organization.
According to the Hand Center at Florida Hospital Celebration Center,
lawnmowers typically cause injuries to the wrist, hand, fingers, foot,
ankle, or toes, and 25 percent of all hand and foot injuries result
in amputation. Deaths most often occur in children under six years
old.
Children are most susceptible to fatal injury when they are sitting
on a ride-on mower or riding behind the mower in a cart. Risks to
children could be reduced if children were forbidden to ride on tractor
or riding mowers and from playing anywhere near the area being mowed.
Playing far from the mowing area will also help prevent eye injuries
and blindness caused by objects that are propelled out of the bottom
of the mower.
The most recent safety standard (effective 1982) for power mowers
is, by now, more than two decades old, but has likely saved many fingers
and toes. Before that time, in most rotary mowers the blade spun as
long as the engine was operating. Injury reports showed that instead
of turning off the mower before trying to unclog clippings from the
discharge chute, people were inserting their hands with the motor
running and blade spinning.
These days, to comply with the CPSC, mowers are equipped with "kill"
features such as a "blade brake control." This control stops
the blade in three seconds when the operator releases his/her grip
on the handle-mounted control bar. To reduce foot contact with the
blade, rotary power mowers have protective foot shields to prevent
feet and mower parts from entering the path of the blade.
Safety standards for mower designs can only go so far, and they are
even more effective when we pay attention to our surroundings and
to safety precautions. The following are tips are recommended for
safer mower use**:
- Do not remove safety devices or guards on switches.
- Never insert hands or feet into the mower to remove grass or debris.
Even with the motor turned off, the blade remains engaged.
- Always use a stick or broom handle to remove any obstruction (with
the engine off).
- Never cut grass when it is wet or when the ground is damp.
- Never allow a child to operate the mower at any time or be in
the area to be mowed.
- Do not let children under 16 years old use ride-on mowers.
- Do not let children under 12 use walk-behind/push mowers.
- Keep your mower in good working order with sharp blades.
- Do not drink alcohol before or while using your lawnmower.
- Wear protective boots, goggles, gloves, earphones/plugs and long
pants. Do not operate the lawnmower while barefoot. Be cautious
when mowing hills or slopes.
- Never allow passengers, other than the driver, on riding mowers.
**Sources:
American Academy of Pediatrics: http://www.aap.org/family/tipplawn.htm
The Hand Center: http://www.celebrationhealth.com/handcenter/lawnmower.htm
*Todd A. Smith, president of the American Association for Justice, is a partner in the Chicago, IL, law firm of Power
Rogers & Smith.
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