Lawn mower safety: Keeping kids safe

Summer has arrived. We welcome the warm weather and more day light hours allowing for a host of outside activities for all to enjoy. Everyone loves summer. Flowers bloom, trees display varied shades of green and grass grows.

But summer activities that involve children must be monitored and supervised as they carry a potential for injury.

One of the most dangerous summer activities involves children and lawn mowers. Children do not belong near or on lawn mowers. Lawn mower injuries can be devastating and life altering for the pediatric patient and their family. At Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, we’ve seen more than a 50 percent increase in lawnmower accidents involving children in the last two years.

These injuries are tragic because they could be prevented by following simple safety guidelines set by both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. As part of the health care team involved in treating children who have incurred injuries from lawnmowers, we are attempting to raise public awareness of the danger involved and the potential for harm.

Lawn mower injuries occur at a rate of 60,000-70,000 per year with 8,000-11,000 of those accounted for by children. Injuries sustained occur from direct contact with the blades, falling off riding mowers, projectiles and burns. Some of the injuries can be life threatening and many may require lengthy hospital stays with multiple surgeries to repair the often severe damage caused by direct contact with the blades. Lawn mower injuries can result in the complete or partial loss of limbs and severe trauma to the perineum. Those injuries may then require multiple surgical procedures such as debridement of the wounds, amputations, urethroplasty, perineoplasty, anorectoplasty, placement of a suprabupic cystostomy tube and diverting colostomy. As one can imagine, the more extensive injuries forever alter the lives of the child and their family.

Projectile injuries from lawn mowers can also be life threatening. The lawn mower blade has the potential to deliver three times the kinetic energy of a .357 magnum pistol slug. The literature reveals one case in which a 6 year-old suffered a penetration injury to the superior vena cava as the result of a lawn mower propelled 2 cm metallic object.

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has established a Position Statement of Power Lawn mower safety. At the top of the list is “Never let children operate lawn mowers. Keep kids 15 years and younger away when lawn mowers are in use.” Second, they recommend that “children should not be in the yard while the lawn is being mowed.” One recommendation that can’t be stressed too much is “no riders other than the operator; regardless of age, should be allowed on a riding mower.” What a parent or grandparent may think would be a fun activity to do with their child can suddenly turn tragic when the child slips off the mower and becomes trapped under the blade causing devastating injuries. Lawn mowers are not toys. They are machines and should be treated with the same restraint and care in operating as one would use with any piece of heavy equipment.

As pediatric health care professionals we have the responsibility of promoting safety for our most vulnerable population through example and education. Never allow your child to ride on a riding lawn mower or be outside in a yard while it is being mowed. Talk to your neighbors and friends who have children about keeping their kids safe from lawn mower related injuries. Just by following these two simple guidelines we hope to reduce the number of injuries incurred this summer.

Kate Glatt, RN, BSN, works as a nurse in Children's Mercy Hospital's Same Day Surgery department.

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